10 Years

10 years ago, I married my best friend. It was an awesome day.

We had met when I was 17, and I had an idea about the kind of person I would marry. Exactly what was the idea? I was not entirely clear, but when we met, he didn't seem like the type of person I would marry.

I dated a guy whom I thought would be the kind of person I would marry, and thankfully, I realized the error of my thinking during summer break from school. I had then prayed and asked for God to help me, to be more discerning, and that the next guy I would date would be the one I will marry.

Well, I then had a crush on another guy and had desperately waited for him to call. (I am not sure why I thought he would call, he clearly had no interest, whatsoever.)

During all this, I had a dependable and good guy friend, who listened to me go on and on and on about the above two guys. He came over to help me with physics, stopped by my dorm to walk to Bible study together, told me jokes. But I thought he was sort of dating some other girl.

Then I went to Michigan for the summer. Let's be clear about Ann Arbor: It is a place that one ought to bring one's own friends for the summer. My dependable and good male friend wrote me every week (I guess neither of us had reliable internet access that summer, this was 1996, after all.) I looked forward to his letters- they were about nothing, yet absolutely hilarious and encouraging. (And, I found out he was not, in fact, dating this other woman.)

When school started back, it was clear, I was smitten. But was he? How would one find out? Of course! One would convince a girl friend to find out for her! I sneakily finagled this good and dependable guy friend to take me out on a date. I will go on "official record" (if one thinks my blog is an official record...) and say, at the conclusion of this date, I knew he was the one, in October of 1996.

It took three years for us to get engaged, not a day too late, and not a day too early, and I found myself loving him more with each passing day. God's timing was perfect. We married 6 months later. To this day, he is my good, dependable, nice, hilarious, encouraging, best friend.

These 10 years went by so fast: we accumulated educational debt, got ourselves into some real estate debt, and had children, aka debt makers. It has been a path illuminated by God's faithfulness and goodness. We have been happy recipients of his mercy.

I think the next 10 years will go by even faster. Aidan will be 16, Zoe will be 13, and we will be in our 40's. We will probably have more debt- we are Americans, after all. However, I also know that this marriage works because Jesus had already paid the ultimate price for us.

Happy Anniversary, Hubby!