21 Years of Together

Today Shaun and I celebrate 21 years of marriage and what feels like a lifetime (in a good way!) of being together.

I think of all the days and months stacked up in those 21 years and my heart fills to overflowing. To know, day in and day out that he's shown up and loved....to think of the countless moments that have made up the years...to re-define romance again, and again.

Recently a nurse at the chemo place was asking how Shaun was, since she hadn't be there for a while. I smiled and told her what a warrior he's been, what an incredible caregiver, what selfless love I've received day after day, what an incredible burden he's shouldering without a word of complaint.

She told me she was so happy to hear that. She said what often happens during a trauma like cancer is that the marriage falls apart. Naively, that surprised me but it also made me so very thankful for the man who so bravely stands by my side. Cancer has brought us closer together, causing us to cherish our days together, living in full awareness of how fleeting life is. Today, after all these years we appreciate more and more that we simply have each other.

Shaun is God's gift to me and I'm thankful. So thankful.