Sixty-Six Years

So here is a strange thing I try not to think about too hard: this year marks twenty years since I graduated from college.

Not high school.

College.

How is this even possible??

Because I grew up in the Midwest and attended a Christian college, many of my friends landed on the path I fully intended to take: marriage immediately following graduation. I've seen a lot of friends post this year about their twentieth wedding anniversary, and that seems as strange to me as knowing I've been out of college for twenty years!

They write beautiful tributes on these anniversaries and speak of how they had no idea what was coming when they got married. They speak of the joys and challenges of those twenty years and how they've come to the other side stronger for the experiences.

Today my parents mark sixty-six years of marriage.

Sixty-six years.

Six and a half decades of joys and challenges.

Job changes.

Moves.

Building a house.

Babies.

Surprise babies.

Health challenges.

Grandparenting.

Saying goodbye to parents.

Retirement.

And so much more that I'm sure I don't even know.

I celebrate my friends who mark twenty years of marriage this year - and I celebrate my parents who mark a rare milestone.

And when I'm exactly 100 years old and Ryan is 99, we'll look through our scrapbooks and remember (or discover...if our minds aren't keeping up) the 66 years we'll celebrate!