Ten Years

Over this past weekend Ben and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary.  We quietly celebrated by going to Wichita for dinner on Saturday - a rare treat for us these days. 

I found myself reflecting over our ten years of marriage while we were out and about on the farm on Saturday. The weather was beautiful, the leaves are changing, the combine was waiting to go cut beans and our whole family was outside in the bright morning sunshine.

Ten years ago we thought we might go do voluntary service, maybe in Chicago, maybe not. Then I chickened out and we never filled out the paperwork. I didn't want to leave my family behind. Now I understand more than I did then, just how strong the pull to the farm is for me.

Ten years ago, children sounded like a distant, delightful-yet-terrifying idea. It only took a couple years into marriage for that to change. Now we've got a 7 year old and a 5 year old. Sometimes we wonder how in the world we are qualified for a job as important as parenting.

Ten years ago, we were happy to be living in a small rented house in Newton on West 7th Street. It was a quiet street, we went on lots and lots of walks, made the rental feel as much like our own home as we could and enjoyed feeling like grown-ups. Now we're  working toward building a house - praying that it'll all work out.

Ten years ago my husband worked at Bethel College and I worked at the Newton Chamber of Commerce. Now he's a farmer and I work at Mennonite Central Committee.

Ten years ago the farm was a place we visited several times a month. Now we live here.

Ten years ago we wanted nothing to do with pets - who needed a pet?! Now we have a dog, cats, chickens and cattle.

Ten years ago we decided to get married in October to avoid how devastatingly hot our church gets in summer, but also because October has always been special to me. Now, it's still my favorite month of the year.

Ten years ago we had no clue how fast time would fly. We'd been waiting to finish college, waiting to get married, waiting to be "adults", waiting for so many things. Then time started to fly and each year seems to go by faster and faster.

Ben and I are blessed to have each other. We are a better team today than we were ten years ago - I can only imagine how we'll grow together in the next ten years.