23 years

If I've learned anything over the last few years, it's that an anniversary should be celebrated. Like really celebrated. For two reasons. Number one--Marriage is hard. Two sinful, selfish people from two different backgrounds raised in completely different ways, trying to come together as one is no easy task. And in a culture where marriage is seen as a contract, not a covenant, so many give up far too soon. I've watched too many friends and family lose the opportunity to celebrate their anniversary with their husband, either through an unexpected divorce, separation, or even death. 

To be honest, anniversary celebrations are hard for me because we had one that ended in disaster and heartache and years of healing in the aftermath. Plus, I am always saving so much for the future that I don't always take the time to live in the moment. We focus so much on the key years, like ten, twenty, twenty-five or fifty. But we made it past 22 years, and we weren't promised 23, so why not make 23 a big deal?

With so much change on the horizon, Mike and I realized we wanted to celebrate our life in Texas and create a memory we never took the time or swallowed the expense to do. We have pictures of visiting the "high places" in other cities we've visited, but never in Dallas--ironically where we spent our very first anniversary, never in our wildest dreams imagining we'd later live here for almost nineteen years. 

Mike took care of all the details and threw a plan together at the last minute, hoping everything would flow smoothly. He requested two days off at work (he often works weekends) and arranged a beautiful celebration for us, including a coffee date, shopping, a nice dinner, tickets to Reunion Tower, and even a night in a hotel with a view of the Dallas skyline. He spoiled me, and I am so thankful for the memory we made here in Dallas right before we venture back into the small town, country life he's been missing the last nineteen years.