9 Years

Nine is a funny number. Ten is a Big Deal--a decade, a milestone, the first of double digits. Nine is . . . almost there.

And today is a funny anniversary. We started the day apart, running errands, getting things done. We're going out to dinner tonight in jeans and t-shirts, because all of our nice clothes are in boxes.

But we've fought hard for today. We've made it through some very hard times, and a lot of little irritations. And sometimes the little irritations can build and build until they seem like a bigger deal than the hard times.

And now here we are. Marriage has been harder than I expected, in some ways--and I thought it through for a long time before I said "I do," and expected it to be hard. But it's also been better than I expected it to be. In all my thinking-it-through, I failed to take into account the sweetness that is interwoven with the salt tears, and the grace of God that's enabled us to make it thus far.

I know the years ahead will hold more hard days--even, maybe, more nights when I want to quit.  But today I choose, again. I do. I will.