Today it’s Christmas, and I am five kilodays days into this whole marriage thing. I am still star struck by my beautiful dreamer. Every year, I write on the anniversary card,

“Walk with me.
Stay with me.
The best is yet to be.
This I believe.”

We’re five k down this path, and I am still glad it is you who travels with me. I look at the lives we have touched. I look at the home we have created with all the feelings of safety and belonging we have made for our family.

Each of the five thousand days of our marriage feels as distinct in my muddled mind as steps in a five kilometer run. That is to say, not at all. Yet, the sense of a path through the life each of these days has created remains sharp. Yes, there are moments that stand out like when each of our kids came into our home, but they pale next to the sense of enjoyment thinking about dinners at our kitchen table. Even the poor behaviors are a spice to allow home to feel real.

Life’s not supposed to be perfect or easy. I think of the weeks spent at a time with one kid or another in the hospital. I think of my MS and all that it has wrought. I think of the surgeries and recoveries each of us has gone through.

As I think of these things, I realize there is no one else I would rather walk beside than one who brings with her a beautiful dream for us to live. It’s the vision as a whole with all of it’s booboos, behaviors, kisses and hugs that allows everyone within it to grow.

Now that we have completed a 5k, let’s aim for a marathon. After all, completing a marathon has been on my bucket list for the past 10 years.

Merry Christmas and thank you.