Good old fashioned fiction

Currently I'm reading a book called Redemption by Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley. Last night I started it and after only 6 chapters I was bawling. I never cry when I read books. Watching movies, yes (and sometimes good Bell commercials), but never books. It's a story mainly about a husband and wife and how their marriage falls apart (due to infidelity) and how they want to fight to keep their marriage. It's so refreshing and heart-wrenching as there are just so many couples out there who have lost the will to fight. Who don't even know that people out there FIGHT for their marriages.
I read a quote recently by an actress who said that marriage shouldn't be hard work and if it is then you've married the wrong person. I disagree. I think you need to work very hard at marriage at times and especially as the "excitement" wears off. I think if you don't laugh in your marriage then you've probably married the wrong person - I guess I shouldn't say that but to me, it's HUGE to be able to laugh with my husband. It's a lot more than laughing, though. It's so much more on a physical, emotional, intellectual and highly spiritual level.
I know there will be rough times and hard times in my marriage (I'm going on two years - woohoo!) but I want to say that during those times, I fought to keep my marriage strong. I want to be like the couple I met at the bank who had been married for over 60 years who were so happy and so in love. I want to be like that!
I am so thankful that I married Jamie. He is so much of what I am not. He is patient and loving when I am short and spiteful. Our Pastor once said that "Marriage destroys the ego and enlargens the soul.". I have found this to be so true. More true as I open more of myself up to change from the inside out.
So...for those looking for a good Christian fictional novel, pick up Redemption (it's the first in a series!) and grab the Kleenex box!