(Not a) Wordless Wednesday: Five Years

Five years ago today, R and I were finding our way through the freezing streets of downtown Raleigh in search of the Register of Deeds to apply for our marriage license. An hour after that, we were standing in the fellowship hall of R's church to get married by his pastor with two of his staff as witnesses. Thirty minutes later, we sat down for a latte and blueberry muffin at Starbucks.

I got married in jeans and a beautiful sweater from White House Black Market. R wore his favorite button down shirt. I played "When You Say Nothing At All" by Alison Krauss on the upright piano as we waited for the pastor to come in. We said our vows in front of an unlit fireplace.

It wasn't fancy. It wasn't planned out. There weren't any flowers or pretty white dresses. Our kids and parents weren't there. It wasn't a wedding ceremony that either of us had experienced before. But it was perfect because it was us.

Last year, I had big plans for our fifth wedding anniversary. I was going to wear the pretty cocktail dress I had planned on getting married in before there was a chance of snow that day. We were going to have a fancy dinner with Little K and my parents there. We talked about maybe having flowers and a mini wedding cake.

Instead, we celebrated our anniversary quietly on Sunday night with dinner at a little Japanese restaurant and frozen yogurt. Aaron kicked me throughout our date while my parents watched Little K at home. We talked about how different and better life is now than we ever expected five years ago. And the whole night was perfect because it was us.

 I love you, Roger. God has been so good to us.