Lucky Number Thirteen

This week Tom and I celebrated our 13th anniversary.

I was playing music at a wedding recently, and thinking of the bride and groom, "They're just babies!" only to realize that at 23 they were the exact same age as I was.

How little we knew of one another in that giddy time of infatuation, and how little we knew of the magnitude of the commitment we were making. We had dated in the same city for 4 months, followed by 2 1/2 years of long-distance dating, breakup, dating again, and engagement. Phone calls and letters were enough to know that we were fundamentally compatible in such important areas as religion and temperament. But we knew very little of each others' day-to-day habits. These we learned through easy and difficult ways after we were married. And it was all good. Even in areas that we started at opposite ends of the spectrum, such as money (This man earned $19,000 his first year of teaching and managed to save a few thousand!), we've come to a generally happy medium, while our love has changed from infatuation to something deeper.

He's a great husband: smart, funny, wise, faithful to God and me. My friend and I once compared our husbands to rocks, keeping us grounded while giving us the freedom to flit and fly around.

On our wedding day, I would not have imagined us with 3 kids adding delight to special moments, drawing us closer, while demanding attention once reserved for only each other. I would not have imagined that after 13 years I would never once tire of living with him or regret our decision to marry.

To this day I could not imagine a better match for me and I'm thankful for him every day.