Today is our fifteenth wedding anniversary. 15 years ago today, my wife and I gathered with friends and family to commit to join together as a couple and family.
We met five years before we got married, and we got engaged on Christmas Eve of 2002. I was a bit nervous about proposing, so I told the class of several hundred students I was teaching that day about my plans in order to give me some pressure. I knelt down in the snow in the middle of the PKU campus, and she said yes!
People often say that “marriage is hard”, and it’s true. Two people sharing their lives together requires a lot of communication and compromise, and in moments that can be challenging and painful. But it’s also a beautiful thing to work together on decisions, and to share memories that are collected over the years. We are building something together, even when we don’t know exactly what it is, and that something grows in importance and meaning as time goes on.
There used to be only two of us, and now there are four. Our boys have brought us more joy than we ever could have imagined, and also challenged us to grow in new ways. With one child, it suddenly became hard to find time alone, but we reveled in watching his every move. With two children, it’s hard to find time together with each child on their own, but it’s such a gift to watch them interact.
We’ve had many adventures over the last fifteen years. I am grateful for them, and I am grateful to have a partner to share adventures with in the years to come.