10 years

Today my husband and I celebrate 10 years of marriage. 10 years of saying "I love you" to one another ~ sometimes meaning just that and sometimes really meaning "I chose to gut this out". In that time we've moved 4 times, owned 5 cars, over a dozen cell phones, 5 computers, 3 vacuums, and 4 televisions, been on 5 cruises, had two children, been separated by an ocean, owned two cats and multiple fish, traveled to over a dozen states, been issued three moving violations, held 10 jobs, attended college, welcomed 8 nieces and nephews into this world, lost car keys, remotes, jobs, and each other for awhile, joined a church, joined a gym, been infested by mice, and eaten roughly 11,000 meals.

We've learned alot during that time and have come along way from our little house in Joplin. Here are just a few:

• Problems aren't avoided or yelled away.
• The weird neighbor, if nothing else, is persistent.
• Giving is WAY better than receiving, but receiving is pretty awesome too.
• Cats can hide pretty much anywhere and can escape through a 2x3 hole.
• A detour from your regular route is not always the best path nor is it necessarily any shorter...at all.
• We share our anniversary with a great couple.
• I love being social, he likes being at home.
• We get along well on long car rides.
• Authorities will not let a person under the age of 21 travel outside the country unless they have a marriage license or a legal guardian with them.
• Communicating with each other even if to just say I love you is immensely wonderful.
• We just can't cook a good steak.
• Cooking and reading are mutual favorite hobbies.
• Birthdays aren't high on our celebrate list ~ just never have.
• A date over donuts and chocolate milk is awesome.

I'm sure that there are dozens of lessons that I didn't include and countless more to come. But I'm just thankful that we are where we are. When we moved to KS we were at a bad point in our marriage. Not communicating, not attending church, no mutual friends, contemplating divorce. But then we left everything and everyone we knew and moved into a tiny apartment together. We learned that we had to rely on each other and we had to work through our issues.

We don't have big plans, infact I believe we are going to watch a kids movie with no kids, yay! We are ok with that. Our budget isn't a big celebration kind of budget and we're aren't yet good savers (we're working towards that). We are happy and all the struggles have been worth it. They've made us who we are today. So whether you've been married one month or 50 years keep at it, push through the awful times and savour the amazing times.