9.02.2006

Anniversary

Yesterday was September 1, the fifth anniversary of a wonderful day in the life of my family, mine and Shona's wedding.There was no spectacular celebration, but for us, it was certainly celebrated in a unique way. We dropped Alyssa and Ella Kathryn with some close friends and went out for supper and a coffee. The last time Shona and I went to supper without children was about a year and a half ago, and before that it was about another year and a half prior. We're not particularly proud of that fact, that's just the reality of how seldom we attempt such a thing.

Five years ago, we lived in a small apartment in Louisville, Kentucky...both working...fairly content to carry on without the addition of children to our lives at that point. Now, we live in the country in an over-sized house on too many acres near a small town in Arkansas. Shona stays home with Alyssa and Ella Kathryn, and our third child is hoping to be born safely in February.

We were Reformed Baptists then (no, not reformed and baptistic, if there is such a thing, but Reformed Baptist in the denominational sense, though we would have clearly insisted at the time that we did not belong to any denomination). We are Catholic now...yes, the kind that are in full communion with the Bishop of Rome...not the other kind, however defined.

Though we could probably point to several "constants" in our life together thus far, we are happy to report that two constants are our love for Christ and our love for one another.

One other constant is Shona's desire for me to drink coffee with her in a coffee shop. I gave in last night and am happy I did. The first time we had coffee in a coffee shop was a matter of days before we started "courting" in February of 2001. I knew about her fondness for such things so I proposed the idea of getting to know each other better over coffee one Saturday morning. I really, really tried hard to pretend that I liked black coffee as she did, but she saw right through me. Pretty soon after, I made myself learn the habit and I got to be a pretty good black coffee drinker, which she appreciated (obviously, since she agreed to marry me not long later).

The whole "now that we're married I'm not trying to impress you" thing settled in on our marriage though and she realized that she would have a lifetime of difficulty when it came to getting me to go to a coffee shop for a date. This works out to my advantage in the long run, because she really feels triumphant when I agree to something like last night, and in reality, I do enjoy that sort of thing.

So here we are, five years older, at least a few months wiser, and happy as we ever were. We love our children and each other, and our friends and family. And we're looking forward to as many more happy years as the good Lord will give us.

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