Ten years. Ten years!
How do you mark such an occasion when it feels as though it was yesterday that we said our vows and made that covenant and yet, “Feels like 30, seems like thirty. . . ” Every day we have made the decision to love and, yes, some days have been better than others. We have been open to life and have been blessed so many times over.
We have come so very far and yet have so far left to go.
Jac arranged for us to renew our vows. I will admit- I REALLY didn’t want to do it. It just seemed, I don’t know, frivolous? But Fr. Mike was so generous in allowing us the evening Mass and speaking humbling words and involving the kids. And then, there we were, in front of those present, making those promises we made ten years ago. I was taken aback by the flood of emotions as I heard Jac’s words and then formed my own. We could mean them, understand them, grasp them better than we could even begin to imagine on our wedding day.
“I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health.”
I thought of those days that have been effortless, our shining high points. I remembered the low times of job loss, empty accounts, and death. I recalled the care Jac lavishes on me with each pregnancy, the grace he has shared and shown in the most miserable of moments. I was thankful for the strength of our children and their growing bodies and the wrinkles we are gaining from a life well lived.
The love we pledged again was no longer shiny and new, but tested and tempered, stronger and deeper. It really was renewed.
I’m looking forward to all the days of our lives.
