To Two Marvelous Years

This post a bit out of my ordinary, but totally worth straying off the beaten path for a moment. Why? Because exactly two years ago this morning I was driving to Bradley's Pond in Tallahassee - my eleven bridesmaids in tow - to marry my husband. Two years has flown. I have no doubt five and ten and twenty years will go even quicker and before you know it, we'll be talking about retirement and reading stories to our grandbabies. For me, remembering individual events helps slow it back down. As I was looking for photos for this post, I realized with some sadness that we really didn't take many pictures (go figure) of our adventures. [Side note: I vow to take more personal pictures starting immediately.] The few photos we do have are treasures, so I'm sharing some here, because it helps me really appreciate the joy that has been our first two years as newlyweds.

Happy Anniversary to my dear husband, Josh, who I am just crazy about. Thanks for two brilliant years. I'm looking forward to lots more. :)

This is my favorite pre-marriage picture of us, taken right after I had accidentally dropped and smashed Josh's crockpot on my driveway. We'd only been dating a few days and I thought for sure he'd be so mad at me for being such a klutz. But he wasn't. It took me so long to spit out what I'd done that when I finally told him, he just laughed. Thus, this photo.


This was our ceremony program, on which we printed our vows. When she read them, my sister said, "you're the only person I know who would use the word 'tumultuous' in your wedding vows." Josh and I are both kind of book and writing nerds.

About ten days before our wedding, we bought a house. Well, I don't have a picture of my house from when we first bought it, but know that it's cute. And small. And cute. And it has a fantastic backyard where we planted all kinds of flowers and fruit and vegetables.


And we spent lots of time out there, especially in the Fall.

And we quickly became acquainted with the -as we called them- "joys of home-ownership," which included the house being struck by lightning, the screen door sticking, the washing machine breaking, the kitchen faucet not really ever turning off, the toilet not flushing, the freezer leaking, the brick-and-plaster walls keeping us from hanging anything heavier than a sheet of paper, the frequent power outages, the cold floors, waking up at 3 and 4 a.m. several nights in a row to partying neighbors and the melodious sonnets of our drunken neighborhood idiot. But most of those things we fixed ourselves with some smart googling, several runs to Lowe's and a little creativity. And we figured it out together. And it was awesome. Except the drunken resident. I haven't heard him lately, though, so I assume our local law enforcement worked that one out. Get it, officers.

Our biggest home project to date -and the one we're both probably the most proud of- is the refinishing of the kitchen floors:

We did a lot of work in the front and backyards too, but I'll just post this one photo of Josh and Joe (the husband half of some of our best friends who live just eight houses away) after successfully cutting down their first tree and looking very lumberjack-ish and proud.


And we had countless fun adventures. One of my favorites? Josh's first flight lesson, which I got him for his birthday. You look like a natural in those headphone things, love.

And the hiking trips. Oh, the amazing/crazy/my-heart-is-full/exhausting/hilarious/character-refining hiking trips.

And then skydiving, of course. This has been on my "Before I'm 30" list forever. Josh wasn't super excited about flinging himself from a moving airplane, but he surprised me with this for our first anniversary because he knew how much I wanted to go. (Look! I'm so excited that I'm making the same face Drew Barrymore makes in Never Been Kissed when that Rasta guy hands her a "special" brownie.)

On top of that, Josh booked us a stay at this magnificent hotel where the view looked something like this:


And spending Thanksgiving in Georgia with my folks. We went hiking and on a trail ride and Josh rode a horse for the first time. You are so handsome, husband.

And spending Christmas in North Carolina with Josh's family, where I learned to shovel snow and go sledding for the first time. AMAZING. I feel like a missing part of my childhood was restored!


And we went to Walmart and bought these fantastic boots because hey, we live in Florida and have absolutely no winter clothing.


And one of my most favorite memories from these first two years was our trip to see a dear friend in SE Asia. With her help, we learned so much about the people and culture there, the way of life and means of survival that are so different from our own. We tried strange and delicious foods, visited gorgeous rocky beaches and street markets at night and heard music from several different people groups from different parts of the world. We ate naan and hummus with only our right hands in a third-story, open-air hookah bar and Josh ordered the flippin' biggest hookah I've ever seen in my life. On the way back, we had the pleasure of seeing the sunrise twice on the same flight.

I could write and post more, but I think I'll leave it at that. It's a small way to recognize a crazy fun two years of learning and growing together as husband and wife. I love you, Josh. Happy Anniversary and here's to many, many more.