True Companion

Five years ago we stood in front of God, our wedding party, and 400 friends and family members and promised to love, honor and cherish each other forever and ever until death do we part. Yes. 400. Ish. But I can explain. We had an open invitation to our church plus my mom has a large extended family and weddings are the best opportunity to have family reunions, of sorts.

In many ways it seems like it was yesterday that we got married--last night, even. I remember the vows and the candles and the kiss. I recall the dancing and the food even though I only ate a few bites. The leftovers were delicious. The toasts and the cake cutting are all imprinted in my memory. I can see the faces of so many family members and dear friends and a crowd of others I didn't recognize but my husband did. And then, in other ways, it seems like all of that must have happened many decades ago, in someone else's lifetime, perhaps. So many things have changed.

We live 750 miles away from that church where we exchanged vows. Our son, the one who finally came after so many tears, clamors for our attention. Our dog, the puppy we got a few months after the wedding, is content to lay around being a middle aged canine. The children from our wedding party are now hardly children at all, it seems. Our jobs have changed. Our lives are so many miles from where they first inner twined. And I realize that I can't even speculate on where we might be five years from now, so different is our life from what I would have imagined.

So different and yet, so rich. For all the prayers we have prayed, laughter we have shared and tears he has caught, my heart is in that man's hand. I cannot imagine a day, or perhaps even a moment, without him. When we are away from one another a part of me is missing. Truly we are one.

Troy, for all that you have been and all that you will ever be, I count myself among the most blessed. Thank you for being my heart, my dreams, my true companion.