ten years today

I met Tim ten years ago today. Little did I know that when a tall red-head approached me about volunteering with the youth group I was leading at the time, that he would become my closest friend, my permanent roommate, my co-adventurer in this life.

It might sound crazy that we would remember the date we met, but with the youth leading the 3 services at the church in Waterloo that weekend, I had been gearing up for that date for a while. I haven't forgotten it since. June 8, 1997.

I remember sitting down for coffee one afternoon that summer with someone who often "knew things" he couldn't possibly know except by the Spirit. So I never forgot when he told me, "You're going to have a good husband." I knew he didn't mean it as a nicety... a way to make me feel better while I was processing an important relationship that had recently come to a sudden end. I knew in my spirit that he was telling me something he was being given to tell me, not something he simply hoped would be true.

And he couldn't have been more right.

Tim is very, very good to me. In these days of disposable vows, Tim has kept his vow to continue to strive to put me before himself. Before our daughter, even. He lives this out even in the little things. When he arrives home from work, his first words are often "Mommy first!" as he comes to kiss me before he greets Maia. When we're picking between two things (two different desserts, for example) he will invariably try to guess which one I secretly want more so he can take the other. Just today he sent me an email (yes, we do much of our scheduling via email!) telling me he plans to take care of Maia from mid-morning onwards on Saturday so that I can get to a big music-related project I need to get rolling on. How thoughtful.

Henri Nouwen writes that if we are married our task becomes to be the person who best and most often communicates God's love towards our spouse -- to continue to remind him or her by our words and actions how infinitely valuable he or she is in His eyes. No small task.

But Tim has always strived to make this his task. And my goal is the same: to love him with the love of his Maker. Not because of how well he does or doesn't love me, but because I am God's hands and feet in his life more than anyone else, and it's my role -- my privilege -- to love and serve him in that way. I don't always do it well (as he could attest to last night... but wouldn't). But I'd like to say I'm better at loving with that kind of love another ten years from now.

And I can truly say that in ten more years, I'll be very blessed just to have him love me the way he already does now.

Happy anniversary, love.