Half a decade, what?

Yesterday, Andrew and I celebrated our 5th anniversary. In some ways, I can hardly believe it has been five years already.  I've been married to him for half a decade!  Yet, in a lot of ways it seems like we've been married much longer... because when I look back I can hardly remember or imagine my life without him.

Marriage has changed me in so many ways.  We are separate people, yet our lives are so intertwined that he seems like a part of who I am.   We've gone through seasons of our life where we've had to be separated for extended amounts of time; even now we often have opposite schedules that affect our ability to spend extended amounts of time together.  Experiencing that has made me realize just how much I LOVE our time together.  When I get home at night and he is gone, our home just feels so empty.  When he is home, even if we have absolutely nothing going on or we're working on totally separate projects - his very presence in our home makes everything so much more full and wonderful.

Andrew, if you read this, I hope you know how very thankful I am for you.  I love you even more today than I did during our time of elation while we dated and were engaged.  We've had ups and downs, good days and bad, times of intense heartache and sorrow and times of great joy.  Through it all, there is no one I would have rather had walking by my side than you.  You make me feel safe and loved and cherished.  How blessed I am to have a husband who is so willing to serve me and do SO many things around our house when I'm incapable.... how much painting have you done lately?  Oh, thank you!

My life is better than I ever could have even dreamed up.  I LOVE the life we have made together and wouldn't trade it for anything.  I look forward to many, many more years together.... I'm all yours and I wouldn't have it ANY other way.  Thanks for all you do for our family, you're simply the best!  Happy anniversary!