6 YEARS

6 years ago, I married a pretty cool guy.  

He was my best friend and he introduced me to LIFE again after I had gone through hard times and had been praying for a new life.  

... and boy oh boy, did I get a new life!

This GUY of mine was younger, rowdy, fun, fearless, he took a liking to my sons, he was big and tough, and he was pretty darn good-looking. 

Today he is no longer a guy.  

He is a MAN, in every sense of the word.  

He is still younger than me, but no longer young.  

He is a doting father.  

He is a loyal husband.

He is God-fearing and church-going.

I have grown too.  

I thought I was not only the older one, but also the more mature and intellectual one in this relationship.

I thought I had a lot to teach my husband. 

When, in fact, I actually had a lot to learn.  

God was quick to shake me up and show me.

Between then and now, we went through many changes.  

Good changes and bad changes.  

We experienced many ups and downs.  

We went through the loss of relationships, loss of pets, loss of family members and loss of loved ones, yet through those losses we gained LIFE.  

We gained 2 more beautiful children, and we gained many wonderful friends.  Friends that I think will be in our lives for the long haul.  

We gained new and closer relationships with family members.

  And we gained a new relationship with God.

The first half of our marriage was pretty rough.

And I prayed for things to get better.  

And within the next couple of years ... our marriage got better.  

And then we figured out how pray together.

We prayed together for PATIENCE.

We prayed together for help learning to FORGIVE.

We prayed together for ACCEPTANCE.

We prayed together for help COMMUNICATING.

We prayed together for PEACE.

And now ... this year ... has been ... amazing.

We finally figured out, with God's help, how to love unconditionally.

And we finally figured out how to forgive, move on ... and then love even more... Flaws, mistakes, and all.

We got to know each other better than ever this year.  

And we got to know ourselves and see just what we're made of and how strong we both really are.

We know just how far we can push each other, we know just how far we can push ourselves, and have learned our union is unbreakable, no matter the circumstance.

We learned to see the beauty in our marriage ... and the beauty in each other.

We've learned patience and understanding and how to 

communicate 

communicate 

communicate.

Whether the communication is positive or negative.

We have finally learned how to fight fairly.

And we have learned how and when to apologize... and mean it.

And we have learned to 

forgive

forgive

and forgive some more.

Typically a big celebration of a marriage is saved for the 10 year, 25 year, and 50 year anniversary, but I think this year, our 6 year anniversary, is a pretty big reason for us to celebrate our union.

We've come a long way baby.

I love you.