16 Years

Sixteen years ago, the day dawned bright and sunny, very similar to this morning. In fact, most August 2nd's over the years have been beautiful. 1997 was amazing. I got married. I pushed through elementary school, tolerated junior high, put up with high school, took a couple years of collage and then the day that I knew my life was going to begin was here. I had the frilliest, pouffiest, most ruffly dress I could find. I wanted to be a princess marrying her prince. And I was. 

The phrase on our wedding invitation was:

This day I will marry my friend,

The one I laugh with,

Life for

Dream with

Love

I married my friend. We had dated for exactly 3 years, 3 months and 3 days before we got married. When we went out on our first date to a restaurant called Maxwell Taylors on Jasper Ave, I was pretty sure, I was going to be Doug's wife. Now at the time, he was not quite 17 and I was only 18, but sometimes we know these things anyhow. 

We have gone through our fair share of ups and downs in our marriage. Weddings, funerals of my mom and our grandparents, the births of our four children, the loss of three other pregnancies. One of the greatest blessings in our marriage is that we are not fighters. Seldom do we argue and if we do, it's peaceful and amicable. We are honest with each other and speak carefully to one another. We are peacemakers. 

I am so glad that I can grow old with the man who not just loves me but also adores me and likes me. Doug makes me feel special and good about myself. He is encouraging and supportive. He loves our children and works incredibly hard for us. 

Today we celebrate 16 years of marriage and I am looking forward to the next 16 and beyond.

1997

2011
(still my favourite recent picture)