Happy Anniversary

Matt and I celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary today and have been together for almost nineteen years total.

That is mind-boggling to me. I remember when I first met Matt and within the first few meetings I thought to myself, "What are you doing in my life right now? You aren't supposed to show up for another fifteen years."

I had it in my head that I'd be ready for the man I was to spend the rest of my life with after I had made my most foolish mistakes in my 20s and early 30s.

Maybe I thought that if anyone truly knew me, before I was "perfect" (which I guess is supposed to occur when you are 35 in the mind of a 20-year old), they wouldn't want to stick around. Well Matt does truly know me, warts and all, and he continues to stick around.

I've enjoyed growing up with Matt (we are still growing up rather than growing old at this point) and doing this thing called "life" together.

Just like anything worth pursuing, marriage takes focus, attention, and effort. But it wasn't until after I committed myself to Matt and this marriage (which honestly occurred a few years after the wedding day) that I was willing to put in that effort, attention, and focus.

It was when I learned that from a commitment flows all the blessings. W.N. Murray says:

"Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would otherwise never have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way."

Along with being a parent, being the wife that God has called me to be has been the most intense, confronting, and most fulfilling role of my life.

We are more in love, and love each other more, than ever before. We are best friends and enjoy each other's company more than anyone else's.

One of the best gifts Matt gives me daily is laughter. Looking back on when our kids were first born almost five years ago, if I didn't have Matt's amazing sense of humor, I think I would have slowly gone mad. I remember one of the many, many, many challenging days when the two of us were drowning in parenthood, and Matt started on this mock tirade regarding our pretend help. "Where's Omar? This is the third time this week he's been late. Where's Hazel? She was supposed to do all the laundry today. Have you seen Gwendolyn? This kitchen is a mess. That's it! She's fired!"

For our anniversary celebration I requested dessert and go karts. Miniature golf was Matt's idea, and though I am not big on miniature golf (or maxiture golf for that matter) it was a blast as Matt quoted from the mock rockumentary This is Spinal Tap at the beginning of each and every hole.