Time Immortal

It’s been one year already.

[image:5003:c:s=1:l=d]

On October 20th of 2007, at 1:33 PM (if memory serves), Grace and I were married. It seems like only a short while ago, but in reality so much has happened in the span of time between then and now. The biggest change, of course, is that we’ve gone from being a married couple to being parents as well, as we await the birth of our first child (any day now!). The government of the country has changed up a bit, the priest who celebrated our wedding with us passed away, and we welcomed a new niece into the family.

And as the world went on turbulently all around us, we had our trials as well. Two separate mailing addresses became one, and we adjusted to living with each other. We had our highs and our lows, our celebrations and our fights. And in the last few months especially, we have grown so much, and grown so much closer. I’ve heard, in more movies and country songs than I could be bothered to list here, people express the sentiment of loving someone even more than on the day of their first meeting, and I now understand exactly how that feels: I was so in love with Grace the first day we met, more so on the day I first asked her out, and even more so on the first day I ever told her my feelings for her. And now, seven (or so) years later, I feel even more love — stronger love — for her than I ever have.

To say that I am a lucky man would, I think, be a criminal act of understatement; for my many sins, I am simply not worthy of being in the regular presence of (let alone wedded to) a good and Godly woman, which my wife most certainly is. I wasn’t worthy of her patience and devotion as she coached me back, from the brink of liberalism, into the arms of Catholic orthodoxy — something for which I can only imagine I will never be able to fully thank her for. And there are times when I find myself sitting back, in a moment of reflection in the midst of the hectic pace of the day, and reflecting that I haven’t really done much with my life that makes me worthy of seeing her loving smile when I come home in the evening.

Then again, perhaps that’s the point, in a strange sort of way. Because in knowing Grace, I again — or, perhaps, for the first time — knew what it meant to be inspired to live a life of love and service, to the Lord and to others. Indeed, the whole notion of life’s purpose being to love the Lord and to do His will finally made sense when I saw the example of just that life in the way my then-girlfriend, now-wife, lived.

The Lord, as we learned in the readings last Sunday, uses many different means to reach His people, and to intercede in their lives. For me, His instrument has been the woman I vowed to be faithful to for the rest of my days on this day last year.

[image:6528:c:s=1:l=d]

Grace: thank you. More than anything else, thank you. Thank you for being my wife, and for loving me through thick and think, good times and bad, sickness and health, for all the years we’ve already known each other…and for all the years we have yet to see. Thank you for your trust and your devotion, and for your fierce and steadfast faith in the Risen Lord. Thank you for never giving up on me…and especially for being a good friend, a great friend. And thank you for being, already, an amazing mother to our child.

Growing up, I didn’t really try and imagine too much about what marriage would be like. I knew that I wanted to get married, but that’s about as far as things went. And in looking back, I don’t think that any amount of imagination could have matched the happiness that I’ve found with you.

Note: I started the day with a couple of blog posts, but I’ve taken them down — there’s a lot I could say, but others have already had their say on it, and the good Reader can find links to those others in the sidebar. This is a special day, and it’s perhaps best not to sully it with other stuff.