Milestones in life have a way of causing reflection, and today is worthy of a look back. 10 years ago today, Jess and I were married in the Mount Timpanogos Temple in Utah. We have some funny dating stories, but I want to start my story there.
After just 4 months of marriage, we packed our stuff into storage and headed to Invercargill, New Zealand as part of a study abroad program. Our first Christmas was so tight that our gift to each other were simple: Jess gave me a paperback Louis L’amour book, and I gave her a love journal.
After we returned four months later, I jumped back into school. We both finished our undergraduate degrees, had our first daughter, and I began my masters program. By the time I graduated, we had added a son to our family, upgraded to a minivan, and bought a house.
I was self employed, doing long-term contract programming, all the way through school. Working for a startup for a few years was a great learning experience, and then I jumped back into being self employed. The flexibility of my work allowed some adventures in the summer of 2012. That experience led me to where I’m currently sitting: in a house in Northern Virginia, enjoying a long-term house swap.
As I consider our journey together, I cannot help but recognize our growth. Through it all, we’ve grown in patience, confidence, faith, and desire for family strength and adventure.
The success in our marriage isn’t due to lack of difficulty and conflict, but our commitment to work through our challenges together. While I have no idea what challenges and opportunities the next 10 years will bring, I’m sure that our success will depend on the same things as the last 10 years: our ability to love, communicate, work, sweat, cry, hope, and pray together. If the next 10 years are anything like the last 10 years together, it’s going to be quite the ride.
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The traditional gift for a 10th Wedding Anniversary is something made of Tin or Aluminum, materials chosen to represent durability and flexibility.
That’s pretty funny to us, because we are currently looking for an Airstream trailer to support the next adventure for our family.
Love this post and love you guys! Congrats on your 10 year anniversary. I love the last comment about the Airstream trailer and aluminum…hee,hee!
[…] we’ve never been much for anniversary gifts or overly elaborate celebrations (well, except for last year when he bought me an Airstream). We decided earlier this year that instead of celebrating us as a […]