Fifteen may not seem like a lot when you’re talking about stars in the sky, trees in the forest or vintage Christmas decorations in my house but when you’re talking about years of marriage….. It’s a big number.

Every year we measure and mark the passing of time in so many ways, In big ways like the celebration of birthdays and holidays. In small ways like planting seeds in the spring and harvesting crops in the fall. We all quietly know time and life is passing, we can’t stop it or slow it down. In the grand scheme of life 15 years is a small number for most but for others it’s a lifetime.

15 years of marriage tho…. In our world that’s a big deal. It’s a milestone that has traveled a path of happiness and sadness. The path to this milestone is littered with quiet intimate moments and loud chaotic moments. It’s an airport hangar full of bags. Bags packed neatly full of memories. Some bags fondly remembered with the urge to unpack and relive everything about those times. Other bags packed tightly and buried deeply with the hope of never disturbing the dust. Whether the bag is one we’d like to rip open and immerse ourselves back into or the bag is one in which we have zero inkling to ever touch again those are our bags and they built the foundation and walls of this life.

This past Saturday Kevin and I reached that milestone. 15 years of marriage. 15 years of building this life together. 15 years of building this little family. 15 years of showing up. 15 years of smiles, 15 years of tears, 15 years of working together through the good and bad. 15 years of I love you’s, a few I hate you’s and ultimately the realization that if we lost each others love it would tear our whole world apart.

For 15 years we have joked about this being the longest one night stand EVER. In these 15 years we’ve slammed a few doors in each others faces and almost called it quits a few times. We’ve on occasion said awful things to each other. For 15 years tho no matter what has happened we’ve always found our way back to each other. Back to the love we felt that day in Vegas. Back to goodnight kisses and good morning boob squeezes. Back to each other every single day.

We didn’t celebrate this milestone in a big flashy way. In fact we had an argument the night before. We started the day annoyed and distant with each other. We did however acknowledge this milestone by doing exactly what we’ve done for 15 years… we spent the day doing little errands that could have waited but forced us to be in close proximity to each other. As the hours of the day past we joked, we teased and we got past the hurt of the argument. Little reminders of I love you in quiet ways. We ate Chinese take out on the couch and felt the warmth and safety of just being beside each other. We did exactly what we’ve done to make it to this big milestone. We loved each other even when it was hard.