There was a song by a band called the Spiral Staircase in 1969 "More Today than Yesterday". The whole refrain line is "I love you more today than yesterday." When Sherry and I got married we got the first letters of this phrase (ILYMTTY) engraved on the inside of our wedding bands--along with our anniversary date. Now, 21 years later much of the design on the outside of our wedding bands has worn off but the engravings on the inside of our wedding bands are still there very clearly. A reminder of something we were willing to put inside the symbol of our marriage. Permanently.
What is interesting for me is to think about what it means. "I love you more today than yesterday--but not as much as tomorrow." What a great and uplifting phrase to try to live up to. In other words, I will love you more and more every day.
What I find fascinating about this is that the line in the song did not say, "I like you more today than yesterday." It did not say, "I like everything about you more today than yesterday." That would be very hard to live up to. In nearly every married relationship there are things about the partner that are not liked. No relationship that I know of is perfect.
What I think it really means is that "I find it more and more difficult to imagine that I could spend the rest of my life without you intricately involved in it as each day passes. As each day passes, I cannot imagine ever leaving you. I cannot imagine ever not having you by my side. I cannot imagine not having you to wake up next to each day. I cannot imagine not sleeping by your side each night. As every day passes, I want to be with you more than yesterday." But somehow, I think that if the song had been written with this as the lyric, it would not have made it up the charts in 1969.
The other things is whether to interpret more today than yesterday every day literally. I think that to take it literally would be very difficult. However, we could talk about most days of this week compared with last week. Or most days of this month compared with last month. But every day is hard. And probably nearly impossible to live up to.
So, I still believe in the concept of ILYMTTY--even when marriage is not perfect. But I would say that as every month passes, I find it more and more difficult to imagine not having Sherry as the most important person in the remaining months of my life. An acronym for that would not fit well inside a wedding band. But that is what I think ILYMTTY really means.
What is interesting for me is to think about what it means. "I love you more today than yesterday--but not as much as tomorrow." What a great and uplifting phrase to try to live up to. In other words, I will love you more and more every day.
What I find fascinating about this is that the line in the song did not say, "I like you more today than yesterday." It did not say, "I like everything about you more today than yesterday." That would be very hard to live up to. In nearly every married relationship there are things about the partner that are not liked. No relationship that I know of is perfect.
What I think it really means is that "I find it more and more difficult to imagine that I could spend the rest of my life without you intricately involved in it as each day passes. As each day passes, I cannot imagine ever leaving you. I cannot imagine ever not having you by my side. I cannot imagine not having you to wake up next to each day. I cannot imagine not sleeping by your side each night. As every day passes, I want to be with you more than yesterday." But somehow, I think that if the song had been written with this as the lyric, it would not have made it up the charts in 1969.
The other things is whether to interpret more today than yesterday every day literally. I think that to take it literally would be very difficult. However, we could talk about most days of this week compared with last week. Or most days of this month compared with last month. But every day is hard. And probably nearly impossible to live up to.
So, I still believe in the concept of ILYMTTY--even when marriage is not perfect. But I would say that as every month passes, I find it more and more difficult to imagine not having Sherry as the most important person in the remaining months of my life. An acronym for that would not fit well inside a wedding band. But that is what I think ILYMTTY really means.
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