Today, my husband and I celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary.
We met at Brigham Young University – I was 19 and he was 21 fresh from the mission field. I don’t think either of us got anything out of that Humanities class and our grades will attest to that fact. I can’t understand it since we got together often to “study.” We had a long courtship (long for BYU that is) of 1 ½ years. We were married in the Salt Lake Temple on a beautiful spring morning. The man who sealed us as husband and wife gave us advice we have followed to this day. He told us to kneel together in prayer each night before we go to bed. This has proven to be a blessing in our marriage as it is difficult to kneel down before Heavenly Father together when you are angry at each other. And so, we have enjoyed 15 years of marital bliss. We’ve had our ups and downs, our arguments, the misunderstandings, but these are all normal and natural for anybody in a committed relationship. So what makes our marriage so great? 1) We listen to each other – not so that we can gather fuel waiting for our turn to get across our point of view, but really listen as in “I’m trying to understand where you’re coming from, let me try on your shoes and understand why you feel the way you do.” 2) We love each other – duh! Seriously, you know the kind of love that is felt when someone loves you and it doesn’t matter that you took a corner too tight and screwed up the alignment on the car, or that you lost your keys (the kind that has a chip in it that costs $65 to replace), or that you procrastinated preparing for something or other and now you're yelling at the kids because you only have ½ hour to get it done, or that you left a pen in your pocket and ruined a load of clothes, or forgot to turn off the oven and let the potatoes cook all night, or that you put sweetened condensed milk in the broccoli soup instead of evaporated milk. I could go on. 3) We do things for each other – conscientiously sacrificing our own wants and desires for the other person, willingly and without strings attached. It is amazing what this can do for a marriage.
Just in case you are reading this and thinking that we do all these things all the time, let me set you straight. We are not perfect, but are trying each day to be a little better and do a little more to become like our Savior. I'm looking forward to each day hereafter spent with my wonderful husband.
We met at Brigham Young University – I was 19 and he was 21 fresh from the mission field. I don’t think either of us got anything out of that Humanities class and our grades will attest to that fact. I can’t understand it since we got together often to “study.” We had a long courtship (long for BYU that is) of 1 ½ years. We were married in the Salt Lake Temple on a beautiful spring morning. The man who sealed us as husband and wife gave us advice we have followed to this day. He told us to kneel together in prayer each night before we go to bed. This has proven to be a blessing in our marriage as it is difficult to kneel down before Heavenly Father together when you are angry at each other. And so, we have enjoyed 15 years of marital bliss. We’ve had our ups and downs, our arguments, the misunderstandings, but these are all normal and natural for anybody in a committed relationship. So what makes our marriage so great? 1) We listen to each other – not so that we can gather fuel waiting for our turn to get across our point of view, but really listen as in “I’m trying to understand where you’re coming from, let me try on your shoes and understand why you feel the way you do.” 2) We love each other – duh! Seriously, you know the kind of love that is felt when someone loves you and it doesn’t matter that you took a corner too tight and screwed up the alignment on the car, or that you lost your keys (the kind that has a chip in it that costs $65 to replace), or that you procrastinated preparing for something or other and now you're yelling at the kids because you only have ½ hour to get it done, or that you left a pen in your pocket and ruined a load of clothes, or forgot to turn off the oven and let the potatoes cook all night, or that you put sweetened condensed milk in the broccoli soup instead of evaporated milk. I could go on. 3) We do things for each other – conscientiously sacrificing our own wants and desires for the other person, willingly and without strings attached. It is amazing what this can do for a marriage.
Just in case you are reading this and thinking that we do all these things all the time, let me set you straight. We are not perfect, but are trying each day to be a little better and do a little more to become like our Savior. I'm looking forward to each day hereafter spent with my wonderful husband.
This is us on our 10th Wedding Anniversary at Temple Square.
