Twenty Years – Looks like we made it?

They say that marriage is hard work. Before I got married I didn’t believe that. Twenty years in, I now know it’s true.

Today, twenty years ago. We got married. We agreed to do life together. We actually did it twice...

 I guess I would say that we have grown up.

Twenty years.

Two qualifications, degrees and masters degrees,  and rounds of study and exams.

Two house moves.

Two children, 6 miscarriages, a lot of trying to make babies.

Two cats, fish, snails, rabbits, hamsters, stick-insects, and soon to be a leopard gecko, and possibly even a dog in our future.

Some travel.

Some loss, some gains.

A child with extra needs, and the challenges of learning how to parent two very strong and feisty children.

A lot of sleep deprivation.

Mental health struggles. Learning to live life whilst walking a healing journey for each of us.

Learning that we are a family, that we forge the future, that sometimes it really is just us against the world.  That other people’s expectations and desires are just that, other people’s and not ours.

Health struggles where I had a real-life revelation of what was important and we refocused as a family when we realized how fragile life can be.

Making a lot of mistakes, but learning a lot about each other and getting stronger even in the darkest moments. Realizing that you love the other person because of their faults which they are trying hard to work on, and not just expecting them to change to please you or make you happy. Working on your own faults because you know you need to be a better person, no matter what.

 A global pandemic, where we worked at home, and have been stuck together 24/7365. We still seem to quite like each other, much to our relief.

Agreeing to never let go and never walk away.

He is my sun, moon and stars. He puts up with a lot. He gives a lot. He is gracious, kind, and he has grown and shown me how strong he is, when I have felt so weak that I didn’t think I could manage life, for one more day. He probably had no idea when we got married, the journey we would travel, but he’s stuck with it, and the few faults he has are far less than those I see in me and know how patient he is with me as I work through them.

He still makes me laugh, he makes me coffee every day, and he doesn’t bat an eyelid when I suggest we bring yet another strange pet into the house or take on radical life changes like homeschooling our son or starting a charity from scratch or writing a book.

He is the other half of me. Twenty years have been a rollercoaster. I am glad to be riding it with him.

So here’s to twenty years. It’s been nothing like I expected, but I wouldn’t change even the tough bits, because they have made us stronger…

Twenty Years – Looks like we made it? I know there were people who didn’t think we would. I guess we proved them wrong?