119 Months!

Yesterday marked 119 months of marriage for us. It was a regular sort of day. Ryan went to work, I worked for Love INC from home (while doing some chores around the house), and we checked in often throughout the day. 

And after work, we took Lexi for a long walk, since the weather was SO pretty. We went out for a special coffee date, and that was one delicious latte, let me tell you!

I thought back to ten years ago, when we were one month out from our wedding today and totally overwhelmed by all the work between us and that destination wedding day. (And to be fair, in the grand scheme of wedding to-do lists, ours was very small. But it felt big when it was in front of us!) I remember being so excited to get to the big day. So excited to finally be married after all those years of waiting. So excited to be into that next chapter of living life together without the interruption of goodbyes at the end of the days. 

And now, here we sit, one month away from double digits in years. One month away from having lived our everyday together for a full decade. I'm every bit as excited (truly!) for that milestone as I was for the actual wedding day. It's okay if that makes me strange. It's still true.

I've said before that one of the bits of truth Lynne Ford told me in our engagement season was that marriage is wonderful. She said that even on the most ordinary days, there is something amazing about coming home and getting to be with your person for the rest of the night. I believed her and purposed to make it true of our marriage as well. We both purposed that. (It takes two.) And it has been.

Over the last few weeks, on Fridays, you've seen some of our biggest memories from the last decade. Most of those were the good and fun things. A few were big, hard things. But tucked into those highlight reel memories have been a million ordinary moments of the good and the hard. And Lynne was right: all of those big and little, good and hard moments were made better because we were able to do them together. 

That's been my favorite part of this decade. I have ADORED every big, beautiful memory we have made. I have treasured and cherished the gifts of the moments that have blown my mind with their wonder and beauty. I have experienced things I didn't even dare to dream I would know, and I do not take those things for granted. But even more than the amazing moments, I have loved the regular, everyday moments.

I've loved cooking together. Waking up to see him beside me. Millions of conversations in the car on the way to here or there. Praying together. Grocery shopping together. Coffee dates. Binge-watching TV shows. Dreaming together. Doing projects on houses and Abby the RV. Working together. Teaching together. All of it. 

So yesterday, as we celebrated 119 months, I was grateful for the opportunity to look back over an almost-decade and celebrate the everyday. Thank you, Ryan, for always loving me so well. Thank you for encouraging me, holding me accountable, praying for me, championing me, and loving me as Christ loves the church. I love you so!