Today, Ames and I are celebrating our Fifteenth wedding anniversary. Even as I’m writing that ordinal out for the second time, it’s still hard to comprehend. It seems like just yesterday that we were walking down the aisle together. Yet, looking at pictures like the one above from when were dating, I can’t help but slap my knee, wheeze a little, and yell, “look at those young whipper snappers”.
There are so many lessons we’ve learned and stories I could tell from our years together. One of those small stories is that when we got engaged, Amy and I signed up for premarital counseling—mostly to save money on our marriage license. The videos that we had to watch as part of that course were so corny and dated. They talked about how “marriage is like a boxing match”. It wasn’t saying that you fight each other, rather that you’re in your partner’s corner but 15 years later, we still laugh about that terrible metaphor.
As an anniversary gift, I created a little timeline poster with key moments from our life together so far. It was hard to narrow it down to a top 10, but here’s the list:
July 16th, 2000
Our Infamous First Date in Orlando
November 22nd, 2001
Ames said, “Yes” on Thanksgiving Day
July 19th, 2003
The Summer Wedding in Vero Beach
July 28th, 2005
Moved into Our First Home in Columbia, SC
July 8th, 2010
Dr. Beaird Defended Her Dissertation at USC
September 9th, 2011
We Bought the Pulley House in Decatur, GA
March 9th, 2012
Adelyn June Beaird was Born at 10:19am
March 21st, 2014
Mavrie Cathleen Beaird was Born at 1:39am
December 21st, 2016
Closed on Our Third Home back in Orlando
July 19th, 2018
Our Fifteenth Wedding Anniversary
With the kids growing up more every day, our next project house under contract, and ever-evolving professional lives, there will be many more exciting, memorable moments ahead. For all of those, I still take you, Ames. To love, comfort, honor, and keep from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, and forsaking all others, as long as we both shall live.
Now, let’s get back out in the ring!