Today feels momentous. A 10-year anniversary seems very official. As my brother-in-law said last night, "Maybe even grown-ups will take you seriously now." Maybe.
I wanted to string together some of my favorite moments from our wedding ceremony this year. There was about a 4-year span when I didn't know where the wedding DVD was, so I was relieved to find it, and I had a good time watching it over and over yesterday. It's always been my favorite wedding, but here at the 10-year mark it all seemed especially meaningful.
There were the faces of loved ones that are no longer here with us, and that was bittersweet. I just felt a deep thankfulness again for our families, especially for our parents. I'm thankful for the way they've kept their marriage vows, and I'm so thankful for the sweetness of May 22, 2004, for every word spoken to us by our fathers that day, for the heritage of faith in Jesus that they've given us, for their willingness to "give of thy sons to bear the message glorious." I am thankful for the laughter and the memories, for the people from Arab, Sylacauga, Jackson, and Gadsden, who came to celebrate with us and rejoice with our families.
On our wedding day KJ's grandmother, Grammy, looked at me and said, "You only think you love him now. You can't imagine how much better it will be." My 22-year-old self, who never gave much thought to the future, certainly couldn't imagine how good it would be. There are times when it is hard; there are times when the love overflows. There are moments of not knowing how to handle things, moments of exasperation, moments of great joy. There are times of exhaustion and times of freedom and lightness of spirit. The most beautiful thing is the persistent grace of God toward us, giving us hope that redemption and oneness is always possible, and by His kindness we keep believing that it is and finding it. In keeping our covenant I really do have a better picture of a covenant-keeping God.
There's a real beauty in covenant-keeping. I pray for more and more grace to keep loving well.
I cut down 45 minutes of video into a 12-minute collection of my favorite wedding clips. That may still be too long for anyone but our parents to want to watch, and that's okay. Ella's favorite part is the surprise ending but mostly just my spastic reaction to the surprise ending. My dad got me good.
Wedding Highlights from KJ Pugh on Vimeo.
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