These photos of my husband’s maternal grandparents on their 60th wedding anniversary a few years ago, are some of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken. Papa Joe and Grammy are just one of the great examples of marriage Ryan and I have in our lives! I’m sure they would say marriage hasn’t always been easy…but I love the sparkle in their eyes and that they still laugh together! When I look at these photos, I think about all the secrets and stories that these two share with only each other. The bond that so many years together can create, is really a beautiful thing!
I am feeling pretty nostalgic this week. Thursday will be Ryan and I’s ten year wedding anniversary! Milestones are a pretty big deal to me and I have been doing a lot of reflecting on the past ten years. Thinking about the mistakes we’ve made, the smart moves we’ve made, the fights we’ve had, the laughter, the heartache and how our relationship has changed and grown from our first date until now. A lot happens in ten years of life!
This is the thing…Ryan and I don’t have it any more together than anyone else, in fact, sometimes I think we don’t have it together at all! But what we do have is the solid faith in one another that we aren’t going anywhere! I know that the hard seasons will come and go and that there will be years of bounty and years where we feel like we’ll never survive! But we are committed to each other and committed to our family and even when we don’t like each other…we’re gonna love each other, despite our ginormous flaws and failures!
The love story wasn’t our whirlwind romance, or our wedding day. The love story is all the stuff that happens outside the camera frame, when life is real and raw. The grit of doing life as a partnership can be messy for sure! But the joy of a companion who seasons all the grit with grace and still loves you at the end of the day…is a gift my heart needs. So ten years?? That’s just the first chapter…we’re still busy writing our love story!
