One year down, many more to go.

On this day, one year ago, Craig and I stood in front on our friends and family and vowed to God and each other that we would love, honor, etc 'til death, yadda yadda. I've tried to think of what I want to say in this post but nothing can really express all that I have to say about this year.

The thing that first comes to mind is whew, we made it. Okay, that may not be what you were expecting to hear, but this past year has been a challenge for me. Mostly because God has been refining me and I am stubborn and for the first several months, I didn't always want Him to. Once I let go, things got much better. But that is a subject for another post...

I love Craig more now than I even thought I could a year ago and I wouldn't take back one second of this year because it was just what we both needed. But I'm glad we are no longer "newlyweds." I like that I already know how Craig feels about the direction the toilet paper falls and what his ideal p.b. to j ratio is. I like that he now knows the difference between my "I've had a bad day and need a hug" expression and my "I've had a bad day so you had better give me space" expression. (I am pretty sure he likes having that knowledge too.) As many of my friends are getting married soon, I wish them all a great first year. But I can't help but think the first couple months of marriage are a lot like high school. When you are in them, people are always telling you that it is the best time of your life and you are wondering what is wrong with you that you are finding it such a challenge. Now there are some great things about being in high school, but it wasn't the best part of my life and it was a challenge. There are some great things about those first few months of marriage, but I hope it isn't going to be the best time of our marriage. I have a few plans for the the next 40-50 years and I'm thinking they are going to be even better.

Now I'm going to completely switch gears and brag a bit about Craig and his anniversary plans for me. We did most of the celebrating Friday because if we had wanted to celebrate today all we could have done was go to Wal-mart or to go buy beer in Nibley - not so romantic. He had kept the plans a secret but on Thursday night I finally dragged it out of him. He bought me flowers and took me out to dinner at Hamilton's, which honestly, we were both a bit disappointed with, but it had a nice atmosphere and the free anniversary cheesecake was tasty. Then we went to see "The King and I" which was quite good and something fun and different (and Loralee is in it). Today, I wasn't expecting anything because we had already done stuff but he got up early and surprised me with breakfast in bed, and it was French toast - my favorite! He got away with the surprise because he always gets up early on Sunday to watch political talk shows while I sleep away. I like surprises but it is hard to really surprise me as I will nag and nag until I find out. So it was quite delightful and I have to say, when it comes to romantic plans, Craig does good.