Three Years of Love

Three years ago today I said "I do" to my darling husband. We were surrounded by our family and friends. Most importantly, I could feel God was truly there and a part of our sacrament.

I wish I had enough time to write a lengthy post about all the wonderful and not so wonderful parts of our marriage journey. However, I have a sleeping toddler who could awake at any moment and I don't think I will have enough time to write what I'd really like to write about.

So much has happened in these three years. We have moved three times. We have conceived three children. We have had many highs and many lows. We've laughed and cried. We have fought. We've made up. We've had to figure out this parenting thing.

Sometimes it seems we've been married much longer than three years, but I can still remember our wedding day like it was yesterday. It was a bit on the cool side, and there was a soft rain in the morning and later that night. I wasn't nervous at all that day, like I thought I would be. My favorite moment? Seeing Ryan for the first time at the end of that aisle. I was on the arm of my brother, hundreds of people were standing up looking at me, but it was like the only person there was my beloved, waiting patiently for me.

Ryan and I aren't big anniversary people. This weekend we are going to celebrate by going to the Titanic exhibit at Union Station. I am going to try and convince him to see Titanic in 3D. I have no idea what dinner plans we have. Nothing candle-lit or romantic. That's just not really our style.

Ryan did get me a CD and a DVD that I've been wanting for awhile. But my favorite thing was probably the card he got me. On the front there is a freakishly perfect man and woman with their son and daughter. It says, "We're not the average family with 2.5 kids. Which is probably for the best." The inside says, "That 1/2 a kid might really freak our neighbors out." It reminded me that Ryan and I are not like everybody else. We want a big family. We aren't ashamed of our Catholic faith and take joy in it. We don't want the big house with the nice cars and want to travel the globe. We aren't worried about careers or retirement plans. We want to glorify God through our marriage, through the blessing of children and we want to get to heaven.

It isn't always easy to live with that mentality. But marriage isn't always easy either. None of the good, grand and wonderful things in life are easy peasy. But I sure do thank God for giving me the helpmate that he did and for the wonderful years we've had, and the adventure that is sure to come!