Anniversary

I feel very fortunate to be celebrating our 19th anniversary today. In retrospect we've made it this far because of God's protection. We were so young and so clueless yet here we are. I think if Erica got married in 2 years I'd freak out and now I get why my parents had reservations! They had nothing against Steve except that we were "too young". Maybe ignorance really is bliss.

We had our official celebration last night because we had a church potluck and meeting tonight. We went to our favorite restaurant (Enzo) and of course had a fabulous dinner. But the conversation was really the intriguing part. Steve asked me a couple of "did you think we'd be here, or doing this, or have done that at this point in our lives?" And my answer to each question was "no". My life is seriously not at all like I had planned or what I expected. This is not necessarily a bad thing but just a reminder that ultimately I am not in as much control as I'd like to believe I am. Things have happened to us that we didn't cause and couldn't help -- life just does that sometimes. But we're okay, actually better than okay, we're great. It reminds me of a quote I read on a billboard about 6 months ago, "when we make plans, God laughs".

I attribute much of our marital success to the patience and endurance of my better half. I know for certain there were times in the last 19 years that I would've left myself had that been possible. And yet he chose at each turn to stay and to love me when I couldn't even like myself. He's amazing and I can honestly say that I am more in love with him today than I was 19 years ago. Our "secret" is not really a secret at all. We individually put our relationships with Jesus first and each other second. By growing closer to Christ we naturally grow closer together. As long as those relationships stay in that order and no other relationship is pushed before these 2, we'll always be great.

We're heading out tomorrow and now that the house is clean and the bags are packed, I can relax and get excited. I wish you all a great week!