Anybody who has been around me for any amount of time know this about me: I am passionate about my marriage. I am married to a wonderful woman. She is beautiful and smart, funny and sexy, thoughtful and witty, and the best friend I have ever had. These things make it easy to be passionate about my marriage to her. But, truth be told though, I would be passionate about my marriage even if she wasn’t some of those things.
I have a bold statement to make. One that I know many people will not believe. Marriage is not broken. People are. Marriage works. What do I mean by this? Simply that. It works. It is one of the most awesome experiences of my life and it works just fine, if we work on it. If we submit ourselves to the process, marriage most certainly works. You don’t always get your way. You compromise. You find solutions that work for both of you. And you learn that all of that is a very good thing.
I married my best friend 12 years ago this month. We have been through a lot of life in those 12 years and we are happier today than we have ever been. Taking a brief glance back it might be hard to see how. There have been deaths in the family. Both of her grandmas, her dad, her mom, and me have all been through bouts with cancer. (Her parents and I are out on the other side cancer free. We miss both of her grandmas dearly). There have been hard times. We tried to get pregnant with our son for over 5 years. Money has been tight at times. Life has bombarded us from all sides. I wouldn’t choose to do it any other way.
For as much hard times there have been awesome times too. We spent time on our anniversary day (January 9) remembering about our wedding day. We looked at where we were (see above…did I really ever have that much hair?!!) and where we have come. We have walked with each other. We have loved each other. We have enjoyed each other. We have shared our hopes and dreams. We have helped each other make some of those come true. We have much to celebrate.
In marrying one another we made each other a promise that we would walk with each other through the good times and hard times, remaining faithful to each other. We chose each other that day twelve years ago. We have made that choice, and will make that choice, every day forward. I chose to be her husband. She chose to be my wife. No second chances. No do overs. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The sense of wonder hasn’t left me either. With each year that passes I am still amazed and still so very thankful to God that she is the one I get to spend my life with.
David Willis 