Celebrating Nine Years

Over the past nine years, Mike and I have had some very memorable anniversary celebrations. One year we spent the week laying on the beach in Seaside. Another year we had a nice dinner together at The Keg. But nothing will ever compare to our First Anniversary.



It was a complete disaster!



We thought that it would be romantic to cook dinner for each other at home, so we headed to the grocery store. Without looking at a single recipe. Without compiling a list. Basically, without a plan. Walking aimlessly up and down the aisles did not inspire any ideas, it only led to an argument right in the middle of the produce department. Nice. We drove home in silence without having purchased a single thing.



Friends, let me help you save your marriage. Never go to the store with your husband without a plan.



So after cooling off and making a list, we went back to the store and came home with all the fixings for a delicious dinner of pesto pasta with shrimp, salad, and brownie sundaes. And while we saw the value that planning had in our marriage, over dessert we made The Five Year Plan - a list a goals that we wanted to accomplish, some individually, but mostly as a couple, by our Fifth Anniversary.



At the top of our list was paying off all our credit card debt. The next step after that was buying a house and upgrading my 2-door sedan to a family car. Also included on the list was eating more meals at home, taking walks together in the evening, and traveling to places we had always wanted to go. I think you can see the theme of most of our goals - things we wanted to achieve before we had children.



Some of our goals were easily accomplished. Eating at home plus other cutbacks helped save money and we were able to pay off all our debt faster than we thought. The next year we found the perfect little house, and not long after that I was driving around in my 4-door sedan. We hadn't quite achieved nightly walks, but there was still time to work on that. All in all, we were ready to start trying to have a baby.



But as we have come to find out, even the best laid plans don't always work out the way you want them to. Our Five Year Plan turned into a Nine Year Plan. Things we never dreamed could happen to us happened. And the only thing that has made it all bearable is that we have been in it together.



I am so thankful to have a partner for life in Mike. He is my strength, my comfort, my joy. The loss and disappointment that we have been through the last four years had the potential to tear us apart, but it has only brought us closer together. This is a blessing from the Lord that I certainly don't take for granted.



I don't know what the next nine years have in store for us. For now, I'm just taking it one day at a time, enjoying this time with Mike and getting excited about the upcoming arrival of our little Gracie Beth.