What's love got to do with it?

At no time of the day is my wife far from the center of my thoughts. Do you know what it's like to love a woman as much as I love Suzanne? My heart melts before the images I have of her scrolling across the light screen in my mind. There she is swimming. There she is reading. There she is helping Natasha do homework. There she is holding my hand. There she is. . . .

Soon, I'm doing somersaults in front of her while she's standing in a mountain meadow away from the maddening crowd. The sky is blue with yellow butterflies drifting along on a gentle breeze. An eagle screeches from high above tall pines surrounding the meadow. White clouds form hands to applaud the love between us. We go canoeing on a quiet pond. I take her into my arms. Fish start jumping. The world spins. We are dizzy with one another.

Have you read the Song of Solomon in the Bible lately? God was at His very, very best when He made woman. Any man who would harm a woman is a creep, a slime, a piece of manure on an elephant's tail. Any man who would willingly abandon his wife and children for another woman deserves to sit on emotional barbed wire alone forever in a prison cell -- no television, no books, nothing except blank walls against which to beat his head in shame.

Listen to me, all you males in this valley. Autumn is a romantic time when winds whistle songs of love through bending trees and falling leaves. Go out and buy your wife some flowers, take her out to dinner, write her love notes, go for a walk, call her on the phone, tell her you love her again and again. This is what you need to do to build a lasting relationship. Adultery, beer and football games aren't going to bring you happiness. Bonding with a woman over the long term is what will produce the happiness you really want. That's what will get you through the thick and thin of daily life when darkness descends and you need a warm hand to hold tight through a twister night.

"Dear Suzanne,

"You are a purple flower in spring, the golden hills of summer, a New England fall, crackling fire in winter. Can you . . . will you . . . oh won't you please consider marrying me every day? I can't stand being away from you. I chase the freeways home just to see your smile, to kiss your lips, to hear you say hello. Let me comfort you when you cry. you are a tiny bird in a nest, a lost child in the desert, a dancer to photograph, Venus on a moonlight night."

I often watch my children watching us. I pray that their marital relationships will be as exciting and rewarding as their mother's and father's. Kids learn by example. It's what they see that is of lasting value to them. My heart breaks at the thought of children seeming something different that what my children have usually seen. I know kids who have lived real horror movies on the streets of our cities. I know some who are brutalized, beaten and molested before they turned 12. How sad! How awful! How destructive to the social fabric of our nation!

Passion governs me when I'm with my wife. I still see her in a college classroom 32 years ago. I put my passion for golf aside for her. I picked up books in the library just to be next to her. My dreams were filled with her eyes, her black hair, her soft skin, the contour of her being. An undertow took me out to sea each time our hands touched.

I've been obsessed with her ever since that first moment. I can't be out of town for more than a day without finding an excuse to come racing home to her lips. I'm good for nothing if a quarrel between us goes unresolved.

how I twinkle inside when I see her walking in front of me. Dare a man hurt her! The lion in me would run wild after the perpetrator. There would be nothing left, not even for vultures to feed on. Nothing. I would pummel him to dust. No man touches my woman, my wife, my life. No man. No man.

"My precious Suzanne,

"I hope we leave the planet together, for I could never stand the pain of losing you, of being without you, of living a day alone, if I had all the memories of your enchanting beauty to keep me steady. I could not stand the loss. I would break into a thousand pieces, and no one would be able to put me back together. No one. No more."

What's love got to do with it? Everything! Love is the eternal force that created us all. Love is a dream to live. Love is a falling leaf in autumn.

It's Sunday. The winds of time are blowing. Don't waste a moment. Marriage is a sacred institution. Cherish one another.

Dr. Richard Rioux is a resident of Stevenson Ranch. His commentary appears on Sundays.
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