I Still Do

It's our 20th anniversary. So, in honor of that, I wanna talk about my marriage.

We all remember our wedding day...the excitement we felt as all those plans culminated in the arrival of that one spectacular day...

...the beautiful flowers...

...the dashing tuxes...

...the handsome men who eventually filled those tuxes...

...the made-to-order bridal gown complete with bride...

...the bride's charming son *giggle*...

...the solemn vows...

...and, when all was said and done......

another branch was added to the family tree.

Presenting Mr. & Mrs. New Tree Branch

Time goes by...1 year...2 years....5 years...10 years...15 years...20 years...

I was listening to my husband snoozing on the couch the other day and enjoyed visualizing the various things his snores resembled: one was alike to an exotic bird call, another reminded me of a goose with a very bad cold, and I also heard very old lawnmower running out of gas somewhere in there.

As I stood there watching his chest rise and fall, I began to consider if the reasons I married him all those years ago even matter to me anymore, save the obvious - my deep, abiding love for him. You know what? I don't think they do. Why? Because I have through the years, acquired new reasons.

That he became a father to my son and loved him no less than the two daughters we created together added a much deeper layer to my newly married love for him...

With every midnight run to the emergency room to tend the wound or asthma attack of a screaming child and his tender care of "worried me" throughout, there grew yet another layer...

With each death and burial we've attended of each other's family and knelt to mourn as though they were our own, the deepest layers continued to form, one atop the next...

The moments we've treasured, the crises we've survived, the storms we've weathered all give me reasons to love this man, above and beyond those with which I started.

...to say nothing of his quite endearing, albeit varied, snore.

He was my love all those years ago.

Today he's my life...my very heart.