Marriage Monday: Happy 2nd Anniversary, Baby!

I, Ali,

take you, Tony,

to be my husband

To have 

and to hold

From this day forward

For better 

or for worse

For richer, 

for poorer

In sickness 

and in health

until death do us part. 

It's incredible to me that we last said those words to each other two years ago.  Two years ago...?  I start to ask myself where the time has gone, but I know exactly what has made those two years feel like they've both lasted a lifetime and somehow passed in the blink of an eye...

Two years ago I thought I knew everything there was to know about the man I married.  I was wrong.  I had never known Tony as a father - even more so - the father of our child.  I think about the incredibly bumpy ride we've taken over these last 24 months.  {The days before we were parents feels as if it were an entire lifetime ago and that we were two completely different people then.  Anybody else able to empathize with that feeling?}  How could I have no idea how much one tiny person could change our lives forever?  In these past two years we have seen some of the "for better" days and several of the "for worse" days and we've come out on the other side two changed people.  My heart was altered after learning just HOW MUCH I could love my own child.  In turn, it has deepened the love I feel for my husband.

I wish I could say that I couldn't possibly love Tony more than I do today, but I know that is a lie because I continue to love him more as time goes by.  I wish, hope, and pray many things for our marriage and here is a spontaneous prayer for our second anniversary and beyond...

I pray I remember above all else that this man is my best friend
and he deserves to be reminded of that every day through my actions and my words.
May I show him the love he shows me.
God, please remind me that the little moments make up the bigger picture that has become our life together.
Help me take more mental pictures and worry less about capturing the moments from behind a camera.
Let us never forget the reasons we fell in love with each other so many years ago.
Protect him - and his heart -  every day and preserve the butterflies we've give each other over time. 
(Help those butterflies find their way back to us every now and again.)
Give us the strength and patience necessary to cultivate our marriage and our family.

 And don't ever let our passions die.

Above all else, please Lord, help us to seek you in all things and don't ever trust us to make our own plans. 
(Yours are always better.)

And finally, I heard this song a few months ago for the first time and I couldn't help but think of Tony and our (at times) tumultuous relationship.  I love that it recognizes both the ups and downs of life and the call to celebrate it all. 

Here's to us, Anthony Thomas!  Two years down and hopefully many, many, many more together.  I love you so so much.

Stuck it out this far together

Put our dreams through the shredder

Let’s toast cause things got better

and everything could change like that

And all these years go by so fast

But nothing lasts forever

Here's to us

Here's to love

All the times

That we messed up

Here's to you

Fill the glass

Cause the last few nights

Have gone to fast

If they give you hell

Tell em to forget themselves

Here's to us

Here's to us

Here's to all that we kissed

And to all that we missed

To the biggest mistakes

That we just wouldn’t trade

To us breaking up

Without us breaking down

To whatevers comin' our way