shards of something else.

27 years.

(One last intermission before getting back to Central America.)

Last week my parents celebrated their wedding anniversary, and since I wasn't working or in school during the day, I got to put together a simple brunch for them. I don't often put much effort into cooking breakfast/brunch (breakfast/brunch is Mum's specialty.... I am a leftovers-in-the-morning kinda girl! That, or a I'm-way-too-late-to-have-breakfast sorta girl), so this was really fun to plan and put together, and very simple to do too.

Growing up, I was taught that wedding anniversaries were days to celebrate. I thought of them like birthdays.... each year you remember the day that something special officially began. They are special enough days I guess. At any rate, I make sure to remember my parents' anniversary, if for nothing other than it was what I grew up always doing. In the past few years though, I find that this annual celebration has taken on new weight for me.

I am understanding a little more what being in this relationship actually means. What each person must pour into it to make it work. How it is more than rose-coloured glasses and happy endings. How ugly it can get when two imperfect people are to live as one unit. How the sole purpose of this relationship - as is everything else - is supposed to be a reflection of His glory (and not for my self-gratification or happiness). How it can be the greatest shaping tool that God will use to knock off the stubborn sin in our hearts, and how painful a process that is. How difficult it can be to stay together - to win together. But - oh - how sweet this hard-won victory is. Staying married is hard, but I am still convinced that there is nothing sweeter.

So yes - a wedding anniversary marks the passing of another year in a marriage. But it's so much more than that too...... it means a year of growth. It means that through the tears and the smiles, two people are still holding on to each other. It means that they have not given up - on each other, nor - more importantly - on a God that is faithful to complete the work that He starts. It is a testament to an entire year of His goodness.

27. That's alot of years. I can't wait for 50, Mum and Daddy!