Fifteen

Dear Michele,

You know what this picture is, you know what song is playing on the boombox.  Normally we write each other nice little private letters, which is romantic in one way.  But I'm putting our fifteenth anniversary letter on my blog, because, like that kid up there, I want to make a public spectacle of how much I love you.

Fifteen years is long enough to learn that love is not about grand romantic gestures, but it's also long enough to learn something about when those gestures are good and right.

I know you like lists, so here's a list of things I've learned in the past fifteen years:

1. Life is better when you share.  Even for an introvert like me, it's better to have someone to talk and listen to.  It's good to have someone to put your arms around.  It's even good to have someone to force you to do things you don't want to do, but which you NEED to do.
2. Forgiveness is important.  Forgiving other people teaches you to forgive yourself, which is actually a lot harder than most people admit.  
3. Kids are a big hassle, but they're probably worth it.
4. Being with someone who is different from you, who can challenge you and who can see things from a different angle is a huge blessing.  Maybe God actually knew what he was doing when he made us with such variation.
5. It's better being lost, if you're not alone.  When I look at that wedding picture that you put up this morning, I think of all the things that those two kids didn't know.  All the people they are going to meet, and love, and say goodbye to, the really painful things they are going to have to go through, but I wouldn't tell them to do anything differently.

Life seems so busy now and things are probably only going to pick up speed.  It's scary to think that in another fifteen years the kids will be grown ups, we might even be grandparents.  So here's to this moment, and our life together, and all that is to come.

Love,

Mark