It's Our Anniversary!

Michele and I were married four years ago today. It's an understatement, but she's brought so much joy into my life. I'm really blessed to be her husband. (Disclaimer: I'm not really orange, and she's not really that white. It's the best photo I had).

It hasn't been easy for us. We were both previously married; both of us had experienced a painful, public divorce. All through our marriage, and even before, we've sometimes had to pay the fee for our overweight baggage. Along with the happiness, we've lived through some tears.

In certain ways, Michele and I are remarkably different. She would adopt every animal in the shelter if I'd let her. I could get by with one mostly-outside cat. One of our inside jokes is that if I go before she does, she'll become the queen of the crazy cat ladies. My will includes language to the effect that she can have the house, provided that cats aren't sitting on the kitchen counter.

We both read books, but that's where the similarity ends. Michele reads almost nothing but fiction. She reads quickly, almost anywhere under any conditions (TV on, kids talking, etc.). But she's not a book person, rarely talks about what she's reading. Novels are almost like old TV shows for her, over and done. I, on the other hand, read mostly non-fiction, only in calm, quiet, well-lit settings. I read slowly, digesting a book. And then, I usually have to talk about my new discoveries.

And then there are movies. A few we both like. "Walk the Line," for example. But she didn't care for "The Mission" which I like. But I didn't like "Sweet Home Alabama," and she did.

But for all of our differences, we've noticed that we share the common worldview we inherited from our parents. Both of us were born in the 1960s to people who were stanch, dedicated members of the Church of Christ. Of course, that means we both grew up going to church three times a week, plus gospel meetings, Vacation Bible School, Christian camp, hymn sings, youth rallies, and anything else they could think of. Both of us were baptized when we were young. Both of us attended Christian colleges run by our people. So we tend to care about the same things. Our reactions are often quite similar.

So what we have in common is Christ, and a tradition about what Christian discipleship looks like. We're far from perfect. So our marriage is far from perfect. By the grace of God we have each other, and that's so good. Because of our faith, together we hope for even better things.