Today is my 18th wedding anniversary.
Interesting things I’ve realized this year about our marriage:
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If our marriage was a child, it would now be a legal adult.
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We’ve spent the equivalent of a person’s entire childhood building our marriage.
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In the next year, my husband and I will be the age my parents were back when Eric and I started dating. And they were old!
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I’ve been with my husband for over half of my life.
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If we both live to our nineties, we could have 50 more years together. I shared this realization with my husband the other night and we were both like, woooow. I mean, in a good way. But also in an ugh kind of way. The reality of marriage.
Anyway, onto the good stuff I’ve learned. I wrote a post about our marriage on my Facebook page last year. Today, in honor of our 18th Anniversary, I’d like to share it here:
I fell hard and fast for this guy. And he did the same for me. But I never, ever thought it would last.
I had just turned 20 and I didn’t believe love lasted. I didn’t believe that people stayed. I sure didn’t believe in marriage.
I was so cynical about us that I would listen to that breakup song back then and think, “This is how I’m going to feel when this ends.”
And truthfully, I kept that part of me alive for a long time. Well into our marriage.
We recently celebrated our 17th anniversary and I can’t remember exactly when I stopped being prepared for it all to crash and burn.
I can’t remember the exact moment I decided to stop believing the lies that were always in the back of my mind and start believing the truth of our reality.
He loves me, I love him. We’re both willing and committed to work through any crappy times.
Now, instead of wondering when it’s going to end, I tend to take this love for granted. I rest in knowing that, no matter what, we are an Us and always will be.
And for this girl who grew up never believing in real love… it is a huge blessing to take it for granted.
God is so good. Whatever mental stuff you’re dealing with, whatever baggage from your childhood, or previous relationships… He is able to wipe it all clean.
And I can’t even tell you how much better our marriage is since I decided to believe it would last forever.
Don’t give up hope if you’re battling unhealthy mindsets. No matter how far back it goes, God goes back farther. No matter how deep it dwells in you, God is deeper. No matter how big it seems, God is bigger.
Keep praying, keep reading His word and finding that real truth, and He WILL come through.
There was a time in my life I never would have believed that I would be so content and comfortable in marriage. I would have seen it as a weakness, a fault, to believe in happy endings. If God can change my stubborn mind, He can change anyone’s.”
Believe me when I say, during those early days, I could never have imagined, that 18 years later, that not only would we still be together, but that we’d have grandkids and I’d be writing a book on marriage! Amazing stuff!
Happy Anniversary to My Love! Here’s to 50 more years! May they be the good kind of Wow!
Past Anniversary Posts:
Ten Years Ago Today
What Our Marriage Vows Should Have Said
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