12 Years Ago

December 6th. What a lovely day to celebrate in this family.

Twelve years ago today, Nick called me at my college dorm and asked me to take a walk. We had our first kiss on that walk and exactly two years later, he proposed. Considering I knew within a month of dating that I was going to marry him, the answer came easily.

I was telling the kids today about this "anniversary." After hearing that we had our first kiss and then two years later, got engaged, Caleb asked, "Is that when you had your second kiss?"

Love it.

Caleb also commented, "You said yes because you liked him, right?" Yes, Caleb, I liked him.

When I said yes ten years ago, I had dreams of what our life would be like. Most of it has held true-still happily married to my best friend, he is teaching, we have a house and I somehow still manage to stay home to raise our kids during their first years. However, I never gave too much thought to the trials that we might experience.

Who could have forseen that within our first few months of marriage, we would be attending two funerals? How does it make sense that two people with college degrees have always made a laughable amount of money each year? And, most recently, having a miscarriage was not part of the plan.

Two days ago marked the one year anniversary of the death of our third child. Having had two healthy babies, losing our baby at 8 weeks last year was a horrible shock. We became a statistic that no one wants to join. As I put the angel ornament on the Christmas tree in memory of our little one (a gift from another family member who also experienced such a loss), I felt sorrow over the person we did not get to meet, but also joy over our reunion in Heaven someday.

Here we are, after twelve years of being a part of each other's lives, still wondering what is next to come. For now, as I sit here near two baskets of laundry to put away, Barbie dolls next to me on the chair, Sprout on the television (hence the only way I able to type these thoughts), and a sleeping infant upstairs, I know I am blessed.

Thank you, Nick, for taking me on that walk all those years ago.