I’m not sure how it happened. It feels like it’s always been this way. But it also feels like it just happened. Somehow an entire decade of my life has been spent with Matt. Long ago was our first anniversary…and our fifth!
Ten years ago this photo was taken.
It was hot. And I mean HOT! 90+ degrees. Humid as it could get. The men probably lost ten pounds in their suits and the ladies had makeup just melting off our faces.
Yesterday was a bit different.
Temperatures in the low 70s. A slight chill in the air. That’s what a 2000 mile difference will do!
Never in a million years would I have thought I’d live in Montana. Then again, there’s a lot of things I couldn’t have imagined ten years ago.
Anniversaries are a time to go down memory lane. Or to think about the future.
I told Matt at dinner last night…
Actually, let me pause there. We went out to dinner. That means I left my two-month old with a babysitter. That was a BIG worry for me when we moved here. I worried that we wouldn’t have anyone to watch Liam. No family and not our trusty sitter back home.
God answered that prayer pretty much the day I moved here and met our then neighbor. She is the only one I’d trust right now to watch my two month old for the first time.
But back to the story…
I said, “In ten years we’ll have a 14 year old and a 10 year old.” His response was, “In ten years you’ll be 44.” Oh man. That sounded worse!
When we got home, we did something we do every year: we traded anniversary cards. “Wow, exciting Loren” I know is what you are thinking.
But what’s significant is that it’s the same cards we each bought ten years ago.
On our first anniversary I told him to buy a card with lots of white space and very few words in it. He did. And every year I pull out our cards and we write in the same one.
It’s so much fun to look back and see what we said each year and to try and remember what life was like when we wrote each one. Looking back last night, I mention how different life was like when Liam was born. Or the excitement we had buying our very first house. Or the joy I had at getting a job when we first got married.
There are a lot of traditions I wish I had started years ago. Have you seen the one where couples take a picture each year holding a picture from the year before? So it ends up being a picture in a picture in a picture….. Take a look here if you haven’t.
But I’m very thankful for this one. And I even think it was my own idea…before I used Pinterest (was it even around then?). I can’t wait to see what all is in there when I’m 44…and 54….and 64…! We’ll probably be stapling pages into the card by then!
Traditions don’t need to be forced and truly mean more if they just happen. I wrote about that here a while back. But they are a lot of fun and can mean a lot. And this one is such an inexpensive one. The hardest part is keeping up with them. How I have managed to not lose them in ten years and three moves, I have no idea. I can’t even keep up with where my cell phone is throughout the day!
I wish I had started this as a birthday card tradition with Liam. I guess it’s never too late…and I can certainly do it with Lake. It won’t mean too much to them now but I’m sure they’ll enjoy it when they’re older. I’ll add that to my to-do list…
Do you have an anniversary tradition? I’d love to hear it!