Five years is a major milestone in that all the fives and tens seem to be, but overall we've not been married very long. Yet in this short time we've had some major milestones and changes and many very ordinary days. My alma mater's loyalty song says that Wartburg is the college of my brightest days, but my days with Christine Marie Ray have been so much brighter.
In our five years we've had:
two homes
infertility
two kids (one still cooking)
five funerals of family members
many weddings
some tough days
many great days
some ordinary days
some extraordinary days
some days in Bremer County
some days in Europe
We've done a number of things in our 1,826 days together (thanks Leap Year!).
On August 17, 2013 my bride walked down the aisle to a song I recorded with the help of some good friends. That song was called "I Will Be Here" by Steven Curtis Chapman. Five years later I understand that that song is the perfect wedding song. Through all the good days and the bad the only real promise I can make my wife is that I will be here. Jason Mraz's "I Won't Give Up" is the same idea. It may not have sounded all that romantic then but today that's the best promise I can give my wife. We've been to a lot of weddings since ours and I've heard a lot of outlandish vows and I think the ones we promised each other are ones we've kept well in the brief five years we've been together and ones we can keep for sixty years.
Christine,
I won't give up on us. I will be here in good times and in bad, when the laughing turns to crying, I will be here. I've been here to watch your beautiful body change. I've been here to watch you grow in confidence and strength. I've been here to watch the many ways you've forgiven me. And I will be here for so much more to come.
I love you.
Thanks for putting up with me for five years.
To be continued,
Matt
"He who finds a wife finds a good thing
and obtains favor from the LORD." Proverbs 18:22
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