I screwed up!

Monday I wrote that we have One Love That Is Shared By Two.

Tuesday followed with The Vows We Keep.

Wednesday I celebrated with a Happy 25th Anniversary to US!

Thursday I looked ahead believing that it was The First Day of the 2nd 25 Years.

Friday, I’m aware I screwed up.

I knew it wouldn’t take long.

I’m not perfect, and never claimed to be, but, seriously, it only took one day!?!

Let Me Explain 

Last night my wife and I renewed our wedding vows in front of many, many friends old and new.  1

Today is the first day of our second twenty-five years and my first day with my new vows in place.

New vows?
What did I promise?
This is what I said:

Twenty-five years ago I repeated traditional vows that I hoped to keep:

I, Scott, take you Amy, to be my wife
To have and to hold
From this day forward
For better, or for worse
For richer or for poorer
In sickness and in health
To love and to cherish until we are parted by death
As God is my witness,
I give you my promise

June 13, 1986 

She was way, way out of my league.
She was kind, thoughtful, sweet, talented, listened to me, and she liked me.
As far as I could tell, she loved me.
Oh, and she was HOT!
I was clueless what love entailed, but I knew I wanted to love Amy.
I also knew I didn’t want to live without her.
Not that I couldn’t live without her, but I didn’t want to.
So, on one knee, in the living room of the house she lived in I proposed.
She laughed, thinking I was kidding.
I wasn’t. I had no ring because I didn’t want to choose the wrong one.
Then we embraced.

On our 10th Anniversary we renewed our wedding vows.

In 1997 we renewed our wedding vows — not that we were a mess and needed a restart, but — because ten years into our marriage, we were adults, “grown ups”, who had a better idea what we were doing and we wanted to be positive role models.

During our wedding we repeated vows I don’t recall and hope that we kept.  At our 10th we wrote these vows, planning the keep them.  And, aside from moments of selfishness, my inclinations to be a workaholic, and an occasional crabby day, we’re still keeping them.  These vows help us keep on track toward our goal of a lifelong happy marriage.

On Wednesday my wife and I will celebrate our three-hundred month anniversary, okay, actually we’ll celebrate our 25th Anniversary; such is life married to me.

I’m so thrilled to be married to Amy I count  days, weeks, and months, but sometimes in the midst of all that I miss what’s important to her.  What’s important to her, is what’s important to her.

I’ve known it’s gonna be our three hundred month anniversary for more than a year and a half.  I was excited to celebrate it, and then realized, “Wait, we can’t celebrate our three hundred month anniversary, we’ll be celebrating our 25th Anniversary!”  I honestly felt a little disappointed.  Not disappointed about our 25th Anniversary, but I wanted to have two special remembrances!

Love is invincible facing danger and death.
Passion laughs at the terrors of hell.
The fire of love stops at nothing—
it sweeps everything before it.
Flood waters can’t drown love,
torrents of rain can’t put it out. 1

My friends Ashley and Jesse are getting married today!

Their relationship is years in the making.

Their infatuation has faded, but they still look at each other so sweetly.
Their infatuation has faded, but they still want to make one another happy.

How can they build on that kind of love?

How can you build on the love you have?

I want to start a petition so Twitter.com offers a one-time-use 313 character exception!

On Twitter I follow family and friends, athletes and musicians, world-changers, and beat writers, but nothing, nothing, nothing has made me wanna tweet and re-tweet more than this:

“Gently encourage the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet. Be patient with each person, attentive to individual needs. And be careful that when you get on each other’s nerves you don’t snap at each other. Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out.” 1

My friend Angela said it briefly and wisely…”love takes courage.” <3

Courage.
Courage to love.
Courage to love through conflict.
Courage to love despite inevitable change. and the courage to love from a distance.

Remember that the time and effort we invest in a relationship, is evidence of the value we place in it:

If we prioritize our marriage relationship it will most likely give us a happier marriage.

If we prioritize time and trust with a best friend it will most likely yield a lasting friendship.

We have a thousand photos or so of our Hawaii trip; mostly photos taken by Amy and me, but a few others were taken by strangers, like this one.

This photo was taken on a black sand beach on the southwest end of Maui by a man who sat with a woman videotaping the sunset.

I have no idea who took this picture.
They had no idea who we were.

Life’s like that; we move through some days barely connecting with people.

Amy sat for hours Inches away from people who had been complete strangers.

“The passion of love bursting into flame is more powerful than death,
stronger than the grave. Love cannot be drowned by oceans or floods;
it cannot be bought, no matter what is offered.” 1

I wish I loved, and loved my Valentine more like that!

8 Things I Wish I Did For My Valentine