Ten Years Just Like That!

During our first year of marriage, which was also our last year of college, I would take a daily run through Piedmont Park in Atlanta, a big park up the way from our teeny tiny newlywed apartment.  If you're anything like me, when you're running/ hiking/ walking, there's a narrative that's playing through your head.  Maybe it's what you're going to do the next day, or hitting yourself over the head for mistakes you made that day (be gentle with yourself!).  Well for me, that year, it was, "What will be going on at our ten year anniversary?"

Planning a wedding and getting married was a whirlwind, and, truth be told, wasn't exactly my cup of tea.  Too much stress, too many hopes (not my own), too many people I didn't really know, and certainly too much money.  Not my style.  So here was the plan: at our ten year anniversary, we could have a re commitment ceremony.  Low key, easy, and with only the closest friends and family.  Maybe hiking up a mountain to exchange vows, or even a cookout, right in Piedmont Park.  Why not?  Something that celebrated our love for one another without all of the pomp and grandeur.  And since we got married crazy young, in ten years, who knows, we might even have friends still getting married (we do!).

So every day, legs running, I would think through the details.  Would we have kids?  How many?  Where would we live?  What would we do?  All this was a way of dreaming of our future, and I think by the time we moved to Boston, I had ironed out all of the creases.  A low key barbecue, with three or four kids by our side.  Maybe even some bluegrass music in the background.

So of course it's a little funny to arrive at this impossibly far off "ten year anniversary" in what seems like the blink of an eye. In the end, we moved twice, had a string of children in much faster succession than either of us had imagined (twins will do that!).  Switched jobs (Ben), gotten another degree (me).  And had many adventures along the way.  It went by fast, but a lot sure did happen!  And in the end, we are more ourselves, and like each other even more than when we started, I think it's safe to say.

We celebrated our ten year anniversary in the same place where we celebrated our first anniversary: watching Garrison Keillor at Wolf Trap (can you see him up there on that stage?  Yeah, neither could we.  But we could hear him, and that's all that really matters.  Lawn tickets all the way!).  Two children sleeping over at their grandparent's house, three children at home with the babysitter, and us under the stars with very full hearts.

So now should I start thinking of our Twenty Year Anniversary?  I'm thinking something on the ocean, or maybe Mediterranean Sea, what do you think?

Oh, and because I don't post nearly enough throw back photos, here we are at our one year anniversary!  We're such babies!