Our 6th Anniversary

It certainly wasn’t love at first sight . . . Josh and I had gone to school together for ten years but didn’t meet for the first time until midway through year ten when Josh was a senior in high school and me a junior. I worked in the school office as an aid when I met Josh through my friend and co-worker Shawna. Josh was a typical twerp (he admits it); he wore baggy jeans (eewww), inappropriate t-shirts (which you know he still does), he cut class and ran with a bit of an unsavory crowd. Little did I know Josh’s friends were not a reflection of him; while his friends were girl chasing, vain and intellectually challenged fellas, Josh was down to earth and quite mechanically gifted.

Josh and I each spent time with a variety of crowds but also had just a few close friends. I spent nearly everyday of my late high school career with the same three girls (whom are still three of my very favorite people) leaving little time for the distraction of immature boys.

Shortly after graduating in 1999 Josh moved to Phoenix to attend UTI; he graduated in November 2000 with an automotive degree and came back home. We ran into each other on many occasions between his return home and the fall of 2001 when we started dating. We started dating in October of 2001; Josh resisted out of shyness and me because I had one thing on my mind, a career in real estate. By the beginning of December we were love sick fools . . . I had very specific criteria in mind for the man of my dreams and Josh was everything but there was one step left – he had to meet my extended family and they had to love him. And they did. As clear as it was yesterday I can recall my entire family laughing so hard there were tears and complaints of aching bellies.

On August 11, 2002 Josh threw me a “surprise” (I knew) birthday party. Over 50 people attended . . . Josh proposed (I knew he was going to, my family and friends can’t keep secrets) and I said yes.

Following our I do’s Pastor Scott gave the following blessing:

May your marriage bring you all the excitement a marriage should bring. And may life grant you patience, tolerance, and understanding.

May you always need one another, not so much as to fill your emptiness as to help you to know your fullness. A mountain needs a valley to be complete; the valley does not make the mountain less but more. And the valley is more a valley because it has a mountain towering over it. So let it be with you, and you.

May you need one another, but not out of weakness. May you want one another, but not out of lack. May you entice one another, but not compel. May you succeed in all-important ways with one another and not fail in little graces. May you look for things to praise often saying, “I love you” and take no notice of small faults. If you have quarrels that push you apart may you both of you have good sense enough to take the first steps back.

May you enter into the mystery which is the awareness of one another presence. No more physical than spiritual, warm, and neat when you are side-by-side, and warm and near when you are in separate rooms or even distant cities. May you have love, and you find it in loving each other.

Thank you God, for your presence here. And your blessing on this marriage. Amen.
Today it’s been six years since our wedding and we’re more in love with each other than ever. Reflecting on the wedding day itself it was quite traumatic but it was not a indication of what was to come of us and our life together.