Before I was married, I envisioned anniversaries being perfect days full of lots of celebration, a fancy dinner, and a (free) dessert with a candle on top. Maybe that's how it is for some people, but that's just not us.
This year, we celebrated with a 6:45am wake-up call from Adelaide. I sleepily wandered into her bedroom to get her up and nurse her. I sat down in our big bean bag chair that resides in a corner of her room. She fell asleep eating. I fell asleep too.
Not long after that, I was abruptly startled awake by my handsome husband who was wearing a Wal-Mart Batman t-shirt that quickly reminded me that today was the start of the RA retreat. Translation: he's leaving for two days in two hours.
Addy kept sleeping as the time ticked away. So much for maximizing our time together this morning - he's last-minute packing and I'm holding a sleeping baby. After Nathan finished packing, we transferred the babe to his arms and I threw together breakfast.
I'm guessing the glorious smell of waffles woke Adelaide up just in time to share our anniversary breakfast with us. The three of us sat down at the table and sipped smoothies and savored waffles - the very thing we had for our wedding "dinner". Our little girl ate her very first bites of waffle and only choked once which qualifies as a success in our book. We ate our last bites of breakfast and then said goodbye. Til Wednesday.
At first, I was bummed about having to say "goodbye" on our anniversary. I still am a little bit. But the reality is, this is what marriage is. Marriage is saying "goodbye" with the promise of being able to say "Welcome home" at a later date. It's knowing, beyond a shadow of a doubt that I will be waiting for him with open arms upon his return. It's being assured that he will look forward to seeing me on Wednesday afternoon.
The Lord is teaching me over and over again that our marriage isn't ours. It's His. It exists because of His power. It's held together by His love. It's bound by His covenant.
This anniversary, I'm reminded that marriage is beautiful because it is the gospel on display. It says, "No matter what you do, no matter where you go, no matter what happens, I will always love you and I will always be here."
May our marriage be filled with many more gospel reminders. May we continue to see our marriage as His, not ours. And by God's grace, may this love that we have for each other be multiplied in the many more years to come.
I love you, Nathan. Happy 2nd Anniversary!
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