Savor.

We were notified too late for you to sign up as a competitor, but we decided to attend the event, still. We could do the Fun Run, we reckoned, and besides, it would be nice to be a part of supporting an event with a worthy cause. Celebrating sportsmanship after a close brush with death was certainly something to cheer for, whether Cliff got to compete or not.  

 

We were the first couple to complete the 2.4km Fun Run of the Singapore Transplant Games 2013, where transplant recipients/survivors and their supporters got to run together in the spirit of triumphing over illness. With the two of us ahead of everyone else, many of whom, like Cliff had received a new lease of life from a transplant (mostly kidney, not liver though), people by the sides cheered for us in good spirits and we ran all the harder. As the sun beat down mericilessly upon us in the heat, and as Cliff started running faster than my legs could keep up with, I watched him in wonder as I reflected on his 33 years of life and his birthday just past… that he should still be living and run this fast and…

… become my husband, a man I loved.

 

He was getting closer and closer to the finish line and sprinting faster and faster. Supporters clad in the event’s red and blue shirts were clapping and cheering him on, while other transplant recipients in green pressed on in the heat. I too, was happy for him that he should not only survive but thrive and live and breathe life and bring inspiration to so many around him.

 

Then, just meters from the Finish Line, he stopped, gave me a thumbs up, then stopped by the side to take a picture of me so I could catch up… Just so we could reach the Finish Line together.

 

 

I realized, that in a marriage, you can choose to compete against each other or, through your love and respect for each other, complement each other and display God’s rich and deep love.

Cliff could have chosen to race ahead because he had the ability and the chance to; he could have enjoyed a moment of sweeter fame or pride; he could have pushed himself and achieved a personal best.

 

But he waited. So we could finish together. That meant the world to me.

 

I am learning, that in a marriage, victory lies in both finishing together, and not one stepping over the other.

 

Thank you for showing that to me.

 

As we sat on the podium cooling off from the heat, watching the other participants running, you shared with me nostalgically how much you had missed racing. Yet, your two medals which meant the most to you- the one you won for your Iron Man event in Lake Placid and the gold medal you won for the World Transplant Games… you had given away: One, to your friend who was going through depression as a symbol of encouragement; and the second, to my eight-year old Sunday school kid who had had brain cancer 2 years ago, and is now in the sweet arms of Jesus.

 

Before we left, you insisted we take a humorous snapshot on the podium together because we finished the race together. It was then that I realized, as I do now on a regular basis because you give me reason to, what a remarkable man you are. A man who will, at his own expense, finish Life’s race with me, and savor the sweet victory of success, together.