Sunday Sentiments

 

Today I stand in between celebrating yesterday's marriage milestone (106 months) and tomorrow's love-story milestone (9 years since Ryan proposed).

Okay, first of all, can we stop to talk about how absolutely insane it is that tomorrow launches us into the last of all those single digits? How is this possible?

This weekend, we moved in not one, but two tenants at WillowBridge, so the entire weekend was saturated with all the nuts and bolts associated with settling in new people. We barely had time to think or breathe, and I lived in fear we'd miss that monthiversary entirely.

It probably does go down in history as one of our most lackluster monthiversaries in celebration. We had new tenants, familiar tenants, co-workers...and so much to accomplish. Ryan and I grabbed two selfies to mark the day. The first one was at lunch when he looked terrified and I looked bedraggled. Both were legitimate ways to mark the day, but neither spoke highly of our love for each other. (It's neither terrified nor bedraggled.) We tried to redo later in the day during smoothies, but I fear we didn't look much better.

But as I told Ryan multiple times this weekend, I couldn't do this without him. I wouldn't want to do this without him. He really is the best teammate ever.

And I loved it that even in the middle of the crazy, I was able to tell one of our tenants what a monthiversary was and why they mean so much to me. I wanted him to understand the importance of celebrating the marriage God has entrusted to us.

So that was our yesterday. 

Tomorrow, we hope, will be a bit more polished. It's at least a bit more planned - if all goes according to plan, that is. 

Tomorrow we celebrate a day that surprised me in all the best ways. A day when I said yes to a life I couldn't even begin to imagine. I guarantee you neither of us imagined we'd be here nine years later, overseeing this building and working together in a field neither of us had ever even heard of before. 

When he proposed, Ryan said, "I want to enjoy life with you - whatever that looks like and wherever it is - I don't care. I just want to be with you." 

Back then we were living right in the middle of all our families in the communities where we grew up. Nine years later, we're 100 miles away, in the little Amish town where Clydesdales pull the combines. Back then we each owned a home and were working our way into our chosen fields of physical therapy and radio. Nine years later, we're living in an apartment and working together in social work. We have the same car, but we've added an RV. 

We might not recognize our lives from where we were nine years ago, but I am grateful Ryan has kept every promise he made in his proposal. 

I love you, Ryan! I love you on the bedraggled days and the beautiful ones, too! Let's never stop celebrating!