On My Marriage

Today marks our 11 year wedding anniversary. Yay us!! As today is a Saturday, and May 18, 2002 when we married was also a Saturday, I find myself reflecting on the day more than I have in previous years. I remember it well, and am happy to say it was a beautiful, sunny day in Oregon, not at all like today with it's dreary rain! We just watched our wedding video with the kids, after having a very relaxing movie and dinner date without the kids. I must give a huge "thank you" shout-out to my friend (who also happens to be one of my awesome accounting employees) for giving us a Christmas gift of childcare and a movie gift card (that sadly it took us 5 months to use!). That combined with an Olive Garden gift card I received for Admins Day from my managers at work made for a most wonderful and inexpensive Anniversary date!

 

In my reflections of the past 11 years of marriage, I find myself thinking not only on all that has happened in those years, but also on all the exciting things to come over the next 11 years!  Watching the video reinforces the change that happens in a decade - our wedding vocalist is now my sister-in-law; our junior bridesmaid niece graduated from college today; junior bridesmaid baby sister is an adult now who may very well have found her future husband; maid of honor sister is now married herself and a mommy; Lectors (my brother and sis-in-law) had 1 child then and now have 5; all 4 of our grandmas that were there to watch us get married now watch over us from heaven; a good friend of Doug's who is on the video decorating our truck is also now resting peacefully in heaven; my precious Godmother who celebrated the day with us is now a breast cancer survivor; one of my dear Aunts who came in from Cali to share in our joy is now fighting breast cancer; there are those who were in our wedding party that are not an active part of our lives these days, although they will always hold a very special place in our hearts and memories; there are guests who have themselves gotten married, or divorced, or become parents; then co-worker friends who watched us marry are no longer co-workers but there are new co-worker friends in their places; we ourselves have welcomed 2 beautiful children into our world. There has most definitely been a host of happiness, heartache, joy, sadness, promise, letdown, growth and change that has happened to everyone who took part in our wedding day 11 years ago. That is life...happiness, joy, promise, new beginnings, right alonside heartache, sadness, letdowns...CHANGE and GROWTH. These things are inevitable, and they are exciting, and they are challenging. And if you are able to maintain one very important thing, you will get through all the changes, all the growth, the good, the bad, the happy times, the sad times...HOPE.  Hope will get you through all of it; hope in yourself, hope in your future, hope in those who walk the journey of life with you, hope in the Lord and His plan for your life, HOPE.  Hope is what has me so excited to see the next 11 years of life with my husband unfold.

 

Thank you, Doug, for being by my side since May 18, 2002; during my changes, my growth; in my exciting moments and my difficult moments, through job changes, through pregnancies and a C-section; through weird medical tests (24 Hour Urine test anyone?! Gastric Emptying Scan that starts with eating radioactive cornflakes?!) to try and figure out my gut problems; through sluggish mornings, unproductive afternoons and lazy evenings. Through all the good and all the bad, you've stuck with me and I with you. We have had 11 years of blessings, far more good times than bad, and we are on track for 11 more years of continued blessings. God is good, He has given us hope, He has provided us a vision for our family, He has put some amazing people in our path to learn from and share with, and we will achieve what we want because we will not lose hope, and we will work together to be the best parents, and partners, we can be. And it is my hope that other couples like us, busy parents of young children feeling overworked and underappreciated yet blessed, happy and knowing they have so much to offer the world, will connect with us and learn from us and teach us, as we all partake in the journey of life together, making each other stronger, making families stronger, keeping God at the center of it all.

 

Hope. May you seek it, may you have it, may you not lose it. This is my heart's hope for anyone reading this.