Seven Years: STILL YES!

Today marks seven years since Ryan proposed to me.

In the Bible, seven is a significant number. It's not the only significant one, of course, but it's a big one, and it carries with it a definition of perfection and completion. Ryan and I are certainly far from perfect, and we're not calling the relationship complete (as in over) by any means, but there is something about this round of "versaries" that is extra special to me.

There is a bit of completeness about us that didn't exist when we were new together, because you can't be complete in a maturity sense when you're still new. (I know some of you are biting your tongues right now, because you also want us to know still we aren't mature, and in a we'll-always-be-big-kids sense, you're absolutely correct!)

But the rhythm of who we are as a couple is natural for us now. I'm grateful that in some ways, that rhythm always has been natural. We didn't have the push and pull of figuring out our place with each other in the beginning that I've heard some couples talk about striving to find. We both felt God leading us forward, and we just ran after Him, trusting that He would work out the details.

He certainly has.

I still remember October 4, 2012 - even without all the pictures that documented the day. I remember how I went to work without my nails done or my face applied, because I spent the entire morning trying to force my hair into a submission of straightness. (It failed.) I remember the look of utter horror on all my co-workers' faces when they saw said naked face and nails. I thought I must be more repulsive than I thought. It turns out they were just thinking ahead to all the pictures they knew would be taken.

(I did both hair and nails that day before the moment of truth, thankyouverymuch.)

It was National Frappe Day. Isn't it just like God to combine the national day of one of my favorite treats with the day of my proposal?

Ryan crawled down a hallway to avoid being seen while I was on the air, and utterly clueless that he was in the building.

And while I thought we were going to talk about something entirely different, the door popped open, and he arrived with a ring and a question.

(I gave myself ten-thousand extra points for not losing all my engineering skills while receiving a marriage proposal. The station had thought ahead, by the way. See Ron over there to the right? He was waiting to cover for me in case I freaked out. Cover as an engineer. I don't think he was ever planning to accept a proposal for me.)

And then I said the best yes.

And it's still the best yes. It's a deeper yes. A more well-rounded and finely shaped yes. But it's still a resounding yes.

This week I reread a novel from my high school days: A Place Called Home, by Lori Wick. Though it's as delightfully predictable as a Hallmark movie, there was a paragraph in there that I thought pretty well sums up how I felt about my proposal from Ryan seven years ago. The character Emily Cameron, shares what her late husband said to her when he proposed: "I don't know what tomorrow holds, Emily, or if I'll be able to give you all the things your parents have. But I promise you, there won't be a day that goes by that you won't know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I love you with all my heart."

Neither of us knew on that day what would come our way. We have been ever so pleasantly surprised with some of the joys we've shared in these past seven years. We have also been heartbroken and tossed in ways we never could have guessed. But neither of us has ever doubted the love of the other. He hasn't doubted asking me to join him for life, and I haven't doubted saying yes. Our love is more beautifully complete today than it was then, and I know it will only become more so in the years still to come.

So today we celebrate the seven year anniversary of this beautiful question and answer. And we still say yes!