I've Been Remiss...

I'm a little under the gun here.

My brother-in-law wrote in his blog about his anniversary just a few days ago. My own anniversary was the next day. Needless to say, I've heard about it from the only lady who really counts - my wife ("Aaron blogged about Jenee, but you..."). Of course now it probably won't have the same impact as it would have - had I remembered to blog about our anniversary on our anniversary, especially since it was a big one. But, considering the fact that I do nearly all of my blogging during breaks at work, I can honestly say that at that point in time, I was completely and utterly swamped!

Back to the point at hand...on September 14, my wife and I celebrated 15 years of marriage - to each other. That's quite an accomplishment these days. I'd call it wedded bliss, but if I did, I'd be lying. My wife knows it, too. It's been 15 years of surprises, mistakes, miserable failures, heartaches, bumps and bruises, not to mention financial troubles, employment problems, yadda, yadda, yadda. Had either of us known what we were getting into 15 years ago, we probably wouldn't have gone through with it.

Before I'm mistaken for being the biggest jerk on the planet, I should explain a little. From where I stand (or sit, in this case), I married very well. I'd stack my woman up against anybody. I've never met somebody who can do so much with so little, make any old place feel like a home and keep going - even after a mountain of setbacks have come her way. She doesn't give herself nearly enough credit. She says she's not creative at all, yet can pull some of the neatest surprises out of mid-air that anyone has ever seen.

We once lived in a house that shouldn't have been lived in - period. It was an old, dingy pier-and-beam job that had settled badly and had uneven floors throughout. It hadn't been lived in for years and the leaders of a church thought it would be a great place for their youth pastor and his family to live. Fortunately, we weren't the first of their youth pastors to live there. We heard stories (after we had already moved out) about rats running in the attic, thick dust on the floors, on and on. (Those folks had it rough). Still, we had a toddler and an infant to bring into that hole. We did have an incident of a mouse running around the kitchen and our dog catching a rat the size of a small cat. Still, she never batted an eye (that I saw) and was hard at work - from the time we arrived until we left 15 months later. She made that place a home for our family. She would later make our home in the same house with my parents. (We now look back on that time as one of the better times, believe it or not.)

I've made a LOT of bad decisions along the way, many of which have affected us directly, a few of them for a LONG period of time. These were the sort of things that most people don't come back from - not as a couple, nor as individuals. Somehow, we did and our family is still intact. I've tried an awful lot of things over the past 15 years. I've held several jobs - with only 1 lasting more than 5 years. The rest have been a year or two here or there - or less.

I've changed career paths quite a few times, as well. When she met me, I wanted to be a preacher, got my license to preach and took off only to crash and burn within 5 years. The 10 years since has been an attempt to recover from the wreckage early on. Now, after 10 years of wandering between various careers, I'm actually thinking it may be time to return to work in the church. Everybody run for your lives!

But, if I ever did anything right in these past 15 years, I picked a winner of a girl. I've told her a few times - but not nearly enough - that I'm a better man because of her. I truly wouldn't and couldn't be who I am today without her. I am truly thankful to God for her. I know for a fact that He was responsible for bringing us - and keeping us - together.

I'm looking forward to many, many more anniversaries with this same lady. Hopefully we'll both live a long, long time.