III

Today is our third wedding anniversary. I feel like I've talked a lot about our marriage lately so I'll just paraphrase a portion of the card I gave DJ:

Three years ago,
we pledged our lives to each other
with stars in our eyes
and big dreams in our hearts.

And while the years have seen
some of those dreams come true,
these years have also opened our eyes to the reality
that marriage takes work, patience,
and the kind of love that stays true,
no matter what.

Here we are, celebrating another year
of loving and living and learning.
Another year of working to make this life together
the best it can be.

I believe in us,
and I believe in the love of Jesus Christ
that holds all things together.

-by The People Who Care Enough To Send The Very Best.

We celebrated last Saturday by going kayaking on the Concord River. I really want to enjoy kayaking because the idea of it is so freeing - just you, a plastic thing, a paddle, and the open water. But it's just too much work and I spend most of my time on the kayak wishing for a motor. Nonetheless, Concord is a beautiful place, and a good reminder of how blessed we are to have all of this history around us. The highlight of the trip was probably kayaking past Old North Bridge, where the first shot of the Revolutionary war was fired.

"By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world."

-From "Concord Hymn" by Ralph Waldo Emerson

On the way home, we visited Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, the place where Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott, Henry David Thoreau, and Ralph Waldo Emerson are buried, all within 100 feet of each other. Talk about hallowed ground.