12 Years

“Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different.”    – C. S. Lewis

I came across the above quote when reading an article this past week, and it really stuck with me perhaps because I believe it’s so true.  I immediately thought back to the days when the girls were very young.  Mark was still travelling a lot then, and the days with a baby and a toddler, then a toddler and a toddler, could definitely be long and seemingly not that different from one day to the next.  The changes were mostly gradual, so when you’re immersed in the routine of life as you know it, those changes are hard to see.  It’s not until I would look back that I would really realize that so much had changed.

Mark and I celebrated our 12th anniversary on January 19th, and I’m confident that we would both say our marriage is very different after 12 years than it was after 1 year or 5 years or 7 years.  I suspect that I can expect the same of the future.  There haven’t been any earthshattering milestones that document a change in who we are or in how we approach our marriage and family, but rather the changes have been gradual, and when I look back, everything really is different.  My hope for this marriage year 12 is that we live each day to appreciate what it has to offer – not just looking forward to what’s in the future. I don’t want to rush our kids to grow up, our plans to be more stable (well, maybe), or more things crossed off our list of “to-dos.”  I hope when we look back on year 12, it’s a year that we learned to love God more, love the people around us more, love each other and our family more, and appreciated each day as a gift – doing our best to make the most of it, even in the routine of life because I know at some point in the future, I’ll look back and realize once again that everything is different.