A Decade Gone By

10 years ago we said our vows in a tiny little church in Franksville, Wisconsin.  Surrounded by our closest family and friends, blanketed by the newly fallen snow of one of the worst storms to hit the Midwest in years.

9 years ago we celebrated our 1st anniversary in our tiny little rental house in Provo.  The cold drafts blew through the windows as though the glass was peppered with shotgun shot holes.  Many nights we lay in bed and the red and blue police lights decorated our bedroom walls as the officers harassed the local bums.

8 years ago we celebrated our 2nd anniversary amidst the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.  We were both horribly sick with colds and never ventured out to any of the events as we'd hoped.

7 years ago we celebrated our 3nd anniversary with the talk of moving out of our apartment and into a house of our own.  We dreamed of a yard, a garden and perhaps a dog to keep us company.

6 years ago we celebrated our 4th anniversary in our own home.  Our dreams of a yard and a dog had come true.  My visions of a garden were semi-fulfilled with my grad research -- gallon pots of alfalfa grown in the BYU greenhouse.

5 years ago we celebrated our 5th anniversary with visions of a baby swimming in our head and hearts.  The beginning of March we opted for another dog.

4 years ago we celebrated our 6th anniversary with heavy hearts.  We'd experienced the heartache of 2 miscarriages since our last celebration and still longed for a baby.  Little did we know that our dreams were coming true at that very moment.

3 years ago we celebrated our 7th anniversary with the blood shot eyes of new parents.  We ventured out for dinner as a family; surrounded by our love for each other and the new life we'd created.

2 years ago we celebrated our 8th anniversary amidst a pile a dirty laundry, hiking gear and crabbiness.  We had just attempted our first trip to Moab with a toddler; it hadn't gone as well as hoped.

1 year ago we celebrated our 9th anniversary, barely.  The months before that had been some of the hardest we'd endured.  We felt as though we were just going through the motions of being married, feeling more like 2 adults living within the same house, but not really interacting other than to argue.

Today we celebrate our 10th anniversary with a new sense of commitment to one another.  We've faced even more in the last year -- fixing our marriage, me being laid off, my depression, and chiari.  Holy hell, the chiari.  I had brain surgery.  And because of the hard work we'd put into our marriage mere months before that, he held my hand through the scariest moments of my life.  

It's been a long journey this last 10 years.  Some of the moments have left a little to be desired, some have completely left us dumbstruck but I wouldn't change it.  It ain't always beautiful, but it's been a beautiful ride.

Happy Anniversary, my love.  Here's to another fantastic decade and more beautiful moments!