10 years?

Holy cow.
10 years.

Today we're celebrating 10 years of wedded bliss.

My beautiful bride and I have now spent almost a third of our life as a married couple, and that percentage is only going to increase with time. Poor Andrea, I don't think she quite realized what she was getting into. But it's probably better that way.

A lot of things have happened over this last decade...

Ten years ago we were living in Bloomington with just enough hand-me-down and gifted furniture to accommodate a 1 bedroom apartment. We were full time grad students and spent a lot of weekends in New Albany golfing or hanging out with Nana & Pop. I was working a couple of jobs plus earning some cash playing the bass, and Andrea was working a bunch as well. All of those jobs plus some familial assistance helped get us through those years (big thanks to the parents). We still had time to go the movies a lot and play some ultimate frisbee. The big splurge item in our budget was our $30/month coffee allowance. Of course mochas were still under $3 back then. Life was tough, yet simple and good. It was a great start to our marriage.

Then we moved back to Chicago, spent some time in Jeff & Al's basement (thanks!), found 'real' jobs, an apartment and (eventually) a house.

Life has become more complicated over time. Especially since the Lord blessed us with 2 wonderful boys. Fortunately they are never cranky, upset, whiny or ill-tempered. It's pretty miraculous.

Over the years we have done a lot of fun things together. We enjoyed memorable trips to Uganda, Spain, Italy, Cayman and various parts of the US. We ran a marathon and some half-marathons. We vacationed with family and hung out with friends. We drank lots of wine. We saw Alabama win the national championship. And we did all of these things together.

Last weekend my sister got married and there was an 'anniversary dance'. Seeing my grandparents up there as one of the last couples at 50+ years of marriage I was envious. Maybe that's not the best word to use, but I want us to be one of the couples dancing at our grand childrens' weddings some day (no rush). I hope that we're both alive, and that we're physically able to be out there dancing together.

Thank you, Andrea, for a great 10 years. We've definitely tested various parts of our vows - richer or poorer, sickness & health - and survived. The seven year itch was a non-issue and one decade is complete. Lord willing, we'll have a few more decades to get to know each other even better.

I look forward to it.

Love,
ML