Our 1 Year Wedding Anniversary Today


"Sex is good, but not as good as fresh, sweet corn." ~ Garrison Keillor

We know it borders on cliche to say this, but it's hard to believe one year has passed since we wedded at St. Luke's on the Lake. Two thoughts come to my mind as I think back on twelve months of married life.

One: It's nothing like in the movies.

Two: It's harder and gooder than I imagined.

Mike Mason, in The Mystery of Marriage, says marriage is beautiful, exotic, utterly resplendant and a profound contemplation of God's love, "but also, let's face it, it is at times an enormous inconvenience." I like that. I honestly didn't know my ego was so resilient, so inventive. But I also didn't know how resilient forgiveness was. Neither do I think I fully comprehended how much of a divine gift humility is.

And I also didn't quite comprehended how powerful and deeply needed hope was, not just for married life but for life on earth.

So many things I didn't know at the tender age of thirty-five.

Our wedding a year ago on January 20, 2008 was a ridiculously wonderful beginning. We're glad we said those vows. We can still taste the laughter of the occasion in our mouths. And our hearts are so, so, so, so, so grateful for the village of family and friends who are walking with us and helping us learn how to love--learn how to love not out of an abstraction or ideal but in en-earthed, sanctified ways. We need it.

We're also quite pleased at how celebratory the whole country is today. It's very touching. We're going to pretend they're all happy we got married on this day.

But it's a pretty stinking historical day for the US presidency. "Wow." That's my op-ed for the day.

We leave you then with a few off-beat pictures from a year ago today.

The more one-fleshy, but sometimes still two-fleshy, but yearning for whole-one-fleshness,

David and Phaedra



(St. Luke's on the Lake)



(It was a beautiful thing to have both my father and brother-in-law officiate our wedding.)



(Greg Lowry was one of our many talented musicians leading us in worship.)





(Our august wedding party sitting in the "choir")


(Having just said our vows both Phaedra and I got very, very weepy.)



(And then we were happy.)


(Family and friends raising a ruckus right after the ceremony.)

(Some mad dancing took place afterwards. In the middle is my sister Stephanie who was awesomely pregnant at the time.)


(This pictures cracks me up. I look it at and think, "Well, there goes Phaedra practicing her X-Men powers on me. She's totally pulling a Jean Grey.)

(And yes, Garrison Keillor's quote made it on to one of our cakes. How could we resist?)

Comments

Well said. After seven years I can back up your observations. It's NOTHING like the movies. It's definitely harder than anyone can be prepared for.

I'll add two things. No matter what happens, I end up regularly realizing in a very deep and unquantifiable sense that I love my wife more and more. And, secondly, the last few years I've been amazed, STUNNED, at the selfishness of people — this observation coming from within my own marriage, but extending to humanity. It seems to me (though I've not cataloged it), so many marital disagreements can come from a war of the "what I wants."

Though, so often, we don't realize as adults — and Christians — that we still have such a "childish" attitude.

End ramble. Congrats again.
Unknown said…
Congratulations. It is crazy how much can change in one year.
Fern said…
really great photos! it looks like a very lovely and fun wedding. a married person once told me that many times, being married feels 51% worth it and 49% not worth it. but it's still worth it.
Congratulations! It just keeps getting better and better, deeper and deeper...the challenges do not go away, but may the desire to humble yourself and do what it takes grow with each challenge.

God is soooo good.

Blessings on you both!
Out Of Jersey said…
makes a cold hearted cynic like myself feel optimistic.
Thank you, dear people, for all your kind words. We receive them humbly and gratefully. A good time was had in the getaway.

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