778/1845

Our ratio is getting better!  Austin and I have spent 58% of our marriage together, thanks in large part to 2012!  And guess what?  WE'RE STILL MARRIED!

A few years ago on our anniversary I remember tallying the days and realizing we had spent 51% of our marriage apart.  It was heavy on my heart.  How long can a marriage sustain that?  There are plus sides - absence makes the heart grow fonder, anticipation is a strong remedy for heartache, and...the floor gets a break from dirty socks every now and then.  But, after our very difficult Afghanistan deployment we spent almost the entire fifth year of marriage together.  Ups and downs, transitions and all - it was a wonderfully blessed year.

Austin proposed to me in April 2006 and, on the day he proposed, this is what I had mapped out for our life:
Move to Denver May 2006 - check
Wedding December 2006 (delayed one year for familial reasons, but in the end - check)
Get pregnant in 2007 (delayed 2 years, but in 2011 - check)
Get pregnant with #2 in 2009 (delayed until further notice)
ETS (army code for quit the army) June 2011 (delayed until 2015 at the soonest, most likely 2021)
Get pregnant with #3 in 2011 (um...still on #1 here...)

Clearly, things have not gone according to my plan.  In fact, things started deviating from my plan the moment the plan was set in motion and it has been a work in progress ever since.

Life is not as I would have pictured it.  Truthfully, it's nothing like I had imagined a short 5 years ago.  But I can say in all honesty that I'm thankful it has taken the turns it has.  There are days when I think back to that brilliant plan of mine and think life would be better that way.  But then I think of all the pieces of our life together which we wouldn't have, and I realize that what we have is a direct result of where we've been...and we've been down a path I never would have paved on my own.  But I'm thankful.

There have been parts of our first full year together (let's refer to year #5 that way) that have been harder than the other 4 years.  There have been times when I've stared blankly at the wall wondering how on earth this is harder than the other things we've endured.  But it has also been a year of so much growth.  We've grown individually.  We've grown as parents.  We've grown spiritually.  We've grown a lot.

And we've grown together.

I am so proud of our marriage: what we've been through, what we've endured, where we've come.  I'm so thankful that I have Austin as my partner in this life, and I look forward to seeing more items kicked off my "to-do" list only to be replaced by blessings beyond our comprehension.

A day late but as heartfelt as ever - happy 5th anniversary to my amazing husband

(oh, and if the army has their way you can count on year 6 as having a ratio of roughly 75%.  gotta keep life exciting)