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| Keukenhof Gardens, The Netherlands |
These past 10 years have carried a lot of highs and lows, but I couldn't have a better partner by my side to weather the storms and enjoy the sunny days as well. A lot of life lessons and beautiful memories have been created together in this time. We bought our first house at the time we were married and put a lot of work into it over the 7 years we lived there before selling and moving to a new neighborhood, followed shortly after by a move to a new country. We've added two beautiful little girls to our family in that time. Had the experience of having a puppy and then adopting him to a family member when we realized we were moving overseas, to which the girls have concluded that our family is just not complete without a dog. We've had a rather colorful job history with 30+ jobs between the two of us in our time together. We've spent at least a year and a half of that time being apart. Lot's of time spent on schooling and education as one or both of us have been in school the majority of our marriage, which to this point has resulted in the completion of 3 degrees. We've had 9 cars over the years and countless comical adventures from buying and selling furniture and other random things on the classified ads. And last but not least, lots of adventures in traveling to new states and new countries together. What a decade!
Aaron has some qualities that I feel are quite priceless in our marriage. His sense of humor and endless patience are attributes that I'm extremely grateful for as he deals with my inadequacies as a wife and mother. He is able to maintain a calm presence in our home and to reason things out when emotions are flying high amidst all these girls.
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| Versailles, France |
Today I listened to a podcast called The True Hard Work of Love and Relationships by Alain de Botton, and so much of it rang true to me as I've learned a lot in this relationship over the past 10+ years. I just want share a couple of quotes I really liked from him. He says:
“Look, love is a painful, poignant, touching attempt by two flawed individuals to try and meet each other’s needs in situations of gross uncertainty and ignorance about who they are and who the other person is, but we’re going to do our best.”
"The Ancient Greeks had a view of love which was essentially based around education, that what love means — love is a benevolent process whereby two people try to teach each other how to become the best versions of themselves."
I'm so glad that along with all the frustrations and discussions and tears, come the moments of learning and growing and communicating as we make a daily effort to understand each other in order to truly help each other achieve the best version of ourself. I'm looking forward to many more decades with my love and the growth, wisdom and adventures that we'll share together.
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| Stolzenfels Castle, Germany |
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