Eight Year Anniversay

**So this blog has been largely ignored over the last couple of months.  And what you are about to read is "out-of-date". But that doesn't make it untrue. Or unimportant. And I like it. And it's my blog and I can do what I want. So I'm still going to post it. I can't remember all the reasons it didn't get posted when I first wrote it. Something about wanting to scan a picture to put with it. Then it just got forgotten in the details of getting a project done and perparing to leave for vacation. So here it is now, sans picture but with all the emotion with which it was first written on our annniversay, June 14.**

Today my William and I celebrate our eighth anniversary.
Eight years isn't newly weds anymore.
Eight years really isn't easy.
William recently came across a statistic that says that 86% of couples who end up divorced do so before their eighth anniversary.
But here we stand.
Celebrating.
Joyful.
Thankful.
Loving.
Liking.
Still.

Crazier than the fact that we've been married eight years;
our lives have been significantly connected for thirteen.
We were kids.
Literally.
16 and 17 when we started dating.
We've grown up together in so many ways.
And here we stand.
Celebrating.
Joyful.
Thankful.
Loving.
Liking.
Still.

I don't just say those words.
I AM celebrating. I AM joyful. I am so utterly thankful.
In ways we are still the same people we were way back then as teenagers.
But in so many ways we aren't.
And as we've
grown,
struggled,
matured,
changed,
often at different paces,
into more complete individuals;
we've
loved,
given,
forgiven,
embraced,
accomodated,
shared,
believed
and become one.
A godly mystery.
A sacred transformation.
An unbelievable blessing.

I like this man so much. (Which might sound like a lesser statement than love, but sometimes after eight, or 13 years, you realize that the liking can be harder than the loving.) He loves me well. He leads me well.
God gave me a good, good gift.
And as I've said,
I am thankful.