Twenty Years Ago

Twenty years ago I was getting ready to marry the man I believe God chose for me. We had dated for two and a half years prior to the day we'd chosen to marry. We'd been through scares that our pastor might not be in the country to marry us. He was in the reserves and Desert Storm was going on. We'd changed the date to move it forward a week because my father had a trip planned to Ireland the day we had originally planned to get married. I had two bridesmaids that I had to replace due to an illness for one and plans for school for another. I had changed my mind about the wedding dress I had originally put on layaway and was going to wear a different one. We had been through premarital counselling that our pastor required. He asked some hard questions during it and gave some really good advice. I think those sessions are part of the reason that my husband and I stayed together for twenty years.
Excitement and nervousness ran through me as we got ready to embark on a new adventure. I wasn't only getting married but moving to PA to live. I was about to forever leave behind being a child and becoming a wife.
In the past twenty years we have had our ups and downs, joy and sorrow, plenty and want. It hasn't always been an easy twenty years but we have been through them together. We have grown up together as well as growing older. We have been blessed with two children who are not that far from embarking on their own adventure to adulthood. When they leave we will be alone together once more. It will be another segment on this journey we call our marriage. I look forward to at least 20 more years with him.