Perfect Ten

One decade ago, two young, idealistic, crazy-in-lovebirds, took a walk down a church aisle in front of their friends and family, and promised to love each other forever and ever. 

Ten years later? So far, so good...

If you ask me, ten years is a big freaking deal. I mean...it's almost one third of my life! (A slightly smaller fraction for my better/older half). Ten whole years of marriage. In some ways it seems like it zipped by and in other ways it feels like we earned each and every second. I remember 09/04/05 in intricate detail as if it was only a moment ago, but I also look at those two fresh faces in our wedding portraits, and barely recognize them. The "us" of ten years ago was such a good, pure, hopeful foundation for the "us" now, but the past decade has shaped us in ways we couldn't have imagined then. Those two who promised to love in good times and bad, had no idea what the bad would entail, but then again, also hadn't yet gotten a glimpse of how good the good could be. 

We've had an adventurous ten years, filled with classes, jobs, trips, tears, renovations, fights, kisses, family, friends, loneliness, babies, mistakes, successes, children, fears, risks, bliss. We've been through so much, and yet having all that experience shows me how much we don't know. It teaches me that there is still so much more yet to come that we can't even imagine now.

Dustin and I were talking the other day, trying to name other things we've done for ten years...and we were pretty much drawing a blank. Other than our childhood homes, we haven't stayed put anywhere that long. Neither of us have had the same job for ten years (or even been in the same career field). We are incredibly fortunate to have strong friendships- and family of course- that have endured ten plus years, but that doesn't exactly come with the same day-in-day out commitment that a marriage does... So far as the details go, pretty much nothing has remained unchanged in ten years. We've moved, shifted, changed, lost and grown. The constant over that time is us.

And OH, how I am in love with us. I'm madly in love with my husband, even more so than I was ten years ago, but in addition to that, I love the me that I am for being married to him. Us has made me better.

So we are now each ten years older (and maybe ten pounds heavier) than those fresh faced kids jumping into matrimony with scarcely a clue. But we, as a unit, are also ten times wiser, stronger, more humble, and all around lovelier (though still ten million miles from finished). I'm grateful ten times over for this life I've been granted with my husband- my perfect ten. 

 P.S. Take a walk down memory lane with the rest of our anniversary posts: Nine, Eight, Seven, Five, Three.

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