A Lifetime in Five Years

(Yes, I know it's rude to interrupt my own vacation coverage for other things, but I had to break in yesterday for my "Walk a Mile Wednesdays" post, so today I have to break in with what I wanted to feature yesterday! Whew!)

Last week I saw on my Facebook memories that it had been five years since Ryan and I ran the Fort 4 Fitness 10K in Fort Wayne. That was our first time to really be out among friends as an official couple, and I smiled looking at our post-race picture!

 I had no idea that while I talked to friends after the race, Ryan was secretly telling my co-workers he would see them in just a few days, because he was about to propose to me. I had no idea. I mean, I knew he planned to propose. Someday. Just didn't know it was going to be in the next week!

I texted my mom to tell her it had been five years since race day, and her response was, "A lifetime in five years."

And it's true. My goodness, have we ever crammed a whole lotta living into the last five years! Hard moments, learning moments, great moments - but it's been full, for sure.

Yesterday marked five years since Ryan followed through on his secret promises to my co-workers. He showed up at the station, burst into the studio while I was on air, got down on one knee and proposed to me in front of all those people listening through their radios.

I think second to our anniversary, our engagementversary is my favorite day. I love our anniversary, of course, because it symbolizes the day we truly became a forever couple. The day we made promises and celebrated.

But our engagementversary is dear to me because it's the day I was chosen out loud. I knew he had chosen me before this day. He'd told me he was dating me with the intent to marry me. We had sought counsel from family and friends. We had prayed (separately and together) to sense whether or not we had God's blessing and were inside His will.

But this was the day Ryan said out loud (in front of so many people) that he chose me forever. I know for some, this would have been way too public and big of a thing. But for me, it was comforting. You don't put yourself in that vulnerable of a position unless you mean it.

Being claimed out loud in public was a healing moment for me. And that's why our engagementversary is so dear.

For those of you who may not know our story, Ryan and I were in our mid-30's when this all happened, and I've had people ask me if I feel like I lost too many years to the wasteland of waiting before this moment arrived. I think there would have been a time - even extending into the early months of our marriage - when I would have said yes. We missed many years and will probably (down the line) miss even more milestones because we were married so "late."

But I think Mom's line sums it up accurately. We have lived a lifetime in the last five years. I (of course) would selfishly ask for 100 more years together to keep living to the fullest and making memories. Of course I would. But I also know that if something (horrible, tragic, and we won't even think about it) took one of us away today, we lived a lifetime of love in five years. We have no regrets.

We have dreams for much more, but no regrets about where we've been.

Five years ago, he chose me out loud in public. Five years ago, we began a new chapter of life, and it was fuller than we could have imagined.

To those of you waiting, I'm praying for you today. Praying for your strength in the waiting, for your moment of joy to come in HIS time, and for life to be full, even if the years feel like they're wasting.

God can redeem time in miraculous ways.

We are proof.