10 Years

If you have ever been one of those people that have wondered if things could ever change with time then I'm here to tell you that so much can happen in a time that seems so short! Sharing my life with my wife has changed me forever. These are some of my reflections.

Today is the day that my beautiful wife and I are celebrating 10 years of marriage. We compiled of list of "accomplishments" that we've had in that time and it was pretty wild. We didn't only go over the good but we also reflected on how we have overcome much of the adversity to success that life has tried to throw at us, but you can't keep a good thing down!

Even throughout the bad times it's easy to take what we have for granted. I think that's one of the biggest temptations in marriage is to just accept that what you have is what you were given and that's just how life is. But the challenge in marriage and any relationship that you truly honour is that you have to not accept mediocre as ok but to really strive for better, whatever that better might look at the time.

There have been times in our marriage that better wouldn't take too much. There have been times that throwing in the towel would have been the easier thing to do. And then there have been times that better was unimaginable. What could be better than this? And so we enjoy those moments and soak it all in. But no matter what life has given us through our own choices or sometimes just our circumstances we have remembered our vows to one another to stick it all out, together!

That means being honest when it's hard. That means showing love when you don't feel it. That means talking it out when you'd rather just head out the door. That means having oatmeal for breakfast every morning because it was the cheapest thing to fill your stomach. I still hate oatmeal! It means day in and day out remembering that you chose to commit to each other. We have not always shared the feelings of love over the past 10 years but have always shared the choice of love and that has trumped the day.

I'm thankful beyond words of the many people that have shown us that marriage can last the test of time and many couples have given us standards that we strive for. My parents and my grandparents are two examples that are close to me but there have been many others. So to those of you who have been an example to me thank you!

We often wonder what life will be like on our 20th anniversary. And although many things will have changed I hope that there is two constants.

1. That what God has unified that no one will be able to break that apart!
2. That we will be able to look back and reflect of the many times that we chose to love rather than to walk and that we will always strive to enjoy the moment but never settle for second best.

Still to this day we have our vows framed and hanging in our room. I haven't looked at them for a while but from time to time over the past 10 years I have stopped by those framed words and reminded myself of the promise I made on that day, April 27, 2002. I have wept over those words because sometimes they seem too hard.

Thank you God that you have given me strength beyond compare and that we can truly celebrate how you have shaped our relationship into a beautiful dance that will carry on!

To my wife, I love you still. I love you more. I love you forever! Thank you for never giving up on us, on me!