Our first anniversary

Wow! It's already been a year! The time has flown by, but Paul and I have definitely learned so very much in that short period of time. I have truly come to appreciate marriage as the greatest, most challenging, yet most rewarding vocation that I will ever undertake (that is, until we are blessed with children). We've had some incredible highs and a few difficult lows. But, through it all, we've been each other's best friend and we've never forgotten to make the other person, our God, and our love for one another our priority. My mom and grandmothers gave me some wonderful advice, years ago: Never go to bed angry. The words have served me well.

There is so much hype surrounding weddings and getting married today. It's become quite an industry (I can't even count the number of wedding movies out in theatres now and in recent months). Most people (brides in particular) LIVE for the wedding day. Months of time and preparation are put into every detail of, what you are told should be, the "greatest day of your life." I've seen some pretty horrendous bride and wedding moments at the nuptials of friends and coworkers. Somehow, people allowed themselves to be shoved into forgetting what the day and the commitment was really all about. Stress turned loving people about to pledge their lives to another into obsessed, self-indulged "bridezillas" (pardon me, I normally hate that term). People tried to tell me that I was "entitled" to my way...that I was the bride and it was MY day...and that mindless traditions should supersede meaningful ceremony and things being done in accordance with our personal beliefs and personalities.

I'm glad that I didn't listen and that other voices were louder.

Paul and I were quite fortunate to participate in a Catholic Engaged Encounter retreat in Sacramento, 7 months before our wedding. While mandated for a Catholic wedding, the retreat was fantastic, and I have ever since been incredibly impressed by the Catholic church's belief that marriage is a vocation. The point was made that a "wedding is a day...but a marriage is a lifetime." Those words really stuck in my head and made preparations of flowers and dresses and food and invitations secondary, always, to Paul and my spiritual preparation (as individuals and a couple) for our wedding.

Every day since my wedding, each one after the next, has been "the greatest day of my life." Over this past year, we have never forgotten that our marriage really has three partners: Paul, Keira, and God. He has been our strength and guidance from the very beginning, since our wedding day, when He and His blessings were the focus, not flowers and bride's maid dresses. Paul and I have also been incredibly blessed to have many examples of loving, committed, and hard-working couples, both close to home and far away. They have been people who exemplify love, patience, and temperance. Paul and I both have wonderful parents, close to home, and loving families near and far. I've especially loved reading the blogs of my cousins, Kristen and Sarah. One newly married with a new baby and the other long-married with two beautiful princesses and one on the way...these ladies have been distant examples of loving wives, partners, and pretty cool moms. I hope that I continue to have more in common with them as the years go by (and OH, how I wish that we lived closer to one another!).

Well, here's to another year! It's shaping up to be a pretty exciting one. We've decided that our second anniversary should be spent in Kauai (flowers and birds and hiking and beaches...oh, my!). We figured that, if we start saving now, we should be good to go by May of 2009! We'll keep you updated...