a belated 3rd anniversary date.

We had no idea when we picked October 23rd as a wedding date that it would continually fall on an insanely busy week year after year... after year... after year. The past three years have been such an uphill battle to find time for an anniversary trip or heck, even dinner! due largely in part to a huge Halloween event that I've been part of organizing since the year we got married.

This has resulted in most of our anniversary getaways taking place in November or December & day-of dinner at 10 p.m. on the rug in the family room. Not complaining, because the later trip dates buy us time to plan & save, & those candlelit dinners on the rug are always the sweetest. However... I think this year was finally & officially my last year to participate in the Halloween event, so I am all sorts of excited for our anniversary next year. So far, we've managed to go to a different state for our anniversary trip each year, & we'd really love to continue this tradition. BUT! We'll see. Ha.

This year's trip is TBD, so we reserved Sunday afternoon for a make-up date for gifts + cards that suited both of our interests. (It's not that I don't think that Jared enjoyed Pride & Prejudice on the couch with coffee ice-cream & brownies, but I think Midol was making all the decisions that evening & we'll just leave it at that.) Once again, a beach picnic seemed like a SUPER great idea. It does every time. & then we got out there & it took five minutes & half-a-soul each just to get the quilt to lay down flat on the sand. I can handle almost every type of weather with a smile, but not wind. Maybe it's the long hair & my perpetual need to have chapstick on that makes it especially annoying to me, but GOOD GRIEF. The wind did die down, hallelujah, & we enjoyed a quiet afternoon with Beirut & the breeze, imagining how different our wedding would be now vs. in 2010. Which is both a hilarious & depressing activity, might I add.

I think it's appropriate to feel constantly overwhelmed by the present & uncertain (with a dash of eager) of the future as 25-year-olds... & we do. The further we get from our wedding day, the crazier it seems that we were both only 22. Twenty-two! Babies! I'm constantly feeling like I have to defend this decision while simultaneously not really recommending it. (Perhaps that's a post for another day.) Marriage has not been a fix-it for life's anxieties - In fact, some days it feels like we've simply added our burdens to one another's, doubling our task load.

But even at 22, when we didn't know much about the future or what the heck we were doing next, we knew that no matter what, it was going to be better to do it together. We saw each other's baggage & burdens & decided (by God's grace) to carry them side by side. Our love was bigger, & three years later, it's better than ever. I hear that's a trend with this marriage thing, though, so that's really exciting! It feels okay to not know what comes next because I know him, & I know him as a constant source of love, prayer & safety for the rest of my life. & as long as he's next to me, I am twice as strong to handle whatever is tossed our way. Love is somehow simultaneously the most delicate & the most durable creation that we can tether our souls to, & I am blessed to have this man as my anchor.

Jared Bethune, your love is my parachute. 

Thanks for being mine, & being mine so well. 

It is a pleasure to share this dance with you, my love.

love, yours