Heading into our Twelfth Lap...

We celebrated our 11^th wedding anniversary last Friday. This year's was obviously much more celebratory than most, since we really didn't expect to see it. Solomon (who knew a thing or two about wives...other than when to stop collecting them) tells us that an excellent wife is far more precious than jewels (Prov. 31:10) and she is the crown of her husband (Prov. 12:4). He's (of course) absolutely right, and I'm very glad to say that God has given me more time with this particularly lovely piece of headgear.

When we first were married we had this little game we played (come to think of it, it might not have been a game, I just treated it like one) where she'd ask my why I loved her and I'd come up with a quip in response. Last year, for our tenth anniversary, I tried to come up with a list of reasons to give her a serious and honest answer to that question. It didn't take me too long to realize this was a pointless activity--everything I thought of about her was a reason I loved her, which meant the list was always growing.

Basically, to me, knowing TLoML and not loving her is like looking at the Grand Canyon and thinking "huh, big hole in the ground." It just seems impossible to not be struck with a sense of grandeur and awe when looking at that monument in Arizona, and it seems to me to be equally impossible to not love this woman. Not for this or that reason or trait (or flaw)...but because of who she is.

A few years back a sitcom character (who I won't name to save myself the grief) was faced with a choice between his current girlfriend and the girl he'd loved since high school. Because he's a sitcom character, he decides the thing to do is make a list of pros and cons of both women with his friends. He comes up with a list of cons for the girl from high school--some surface level, a couple potentially substantial. And then he comes up with exactly one con for the current g/f: she wasn't the other woman. Didn't matter what pros there were to her, she just wasn't the other one. That's pretty much how I've spent the last dozen years thinking of women...TLoML and everyone else. Frankly, the rest of 'em just don't measure up, and I feel a little sorry for the rest of the males out there who don't get to be with my gal (but not too sorry...).

I wish I could show her how much she means to me, but I'm just not smart enough to come up with enough ways. But I'll keep trying, hoping that I stumble into the right way one day...Lord willing, I have a few decades of attempts before us.

Here's last year's post from Oct. 5^th, which says a lot of the same things I want to say today...

From the Father of lights you came
And I know I'll never be the same again
A beautiful gift has been given to me
Your smiling face is all I see

The look that's in your eyes
And your smile that sets me free
Has made me realize
All that you see in me

Most important day of my life. I entered into a blessed covenant with the most wonderful woman I've ever met, because God was gracious enough to bring us together. I'd do it, and everything since all over again. 'Cept this time with more laughs, more love, and a few different mistakes (not crazy enough to think I'd make less).

My best friend, my heart, my life, my soulmate...

I love you, dear. May be cliché, but love ya more now than then. More now today than yesterday. Here's to many more.

Together now and forever
You are the one
You are my everything
To me you bring
The love that I have waited for