20 Years of "I Do's", "I Still Do's" and a few bad "do's"!

November 19th was on a Saturday 20 years ago but today, this Wednesday, November 19, 2008, marks mine and Tommy's 20th wedding anniversary. What an achievement!! We are pretty proud of ourselves in an unprideful kind of way. I've said it before that I can't believe that we are old enough to have been married for 20 years.

Someone asked me a few years ago how you know when you've met the one you're supposed to marry. Is there a way? My answer to her was that if you can't imagine your future, your life, everything you do from this point forward without him then that is a really good indicator. There are other factors, of course, but that's a pretty good test. I knew Tommy for a year before I was even attracted to him, we were friends, and really good ones. But there came a point where I knew I couldn't imagine my life without him in it. Thankfully, he came to the same conclusion about me. :) I still feel this way and am so grateful for what we've shared over the last 20+ years. We have been incredibly blessed by God.

We wouldn't be here, in this place, 20 years later, without our parents, our children, our siblings, extended family members, mentors, and friends who have helped shape who we are and challenged us to be better at whatever we do.

We knew each other for 3 years before we got married, about 2 of those were dating and engagement. Tommy attended his last college class on Friday morning, drove home that afternoon, and we got married the next day. We were 21 and thought we knew it all. Boy, did we get a clue real fast! The last 20 years have brought good times, tough times, adventures, victories and even failures but through all of that, we have learned to love each other more deeply and honestly. Our choice to a lifelong committment is definitely what has seen us through.

The next 20 years and hopefully more will hopefully bring good times, fewer tough times, adventures, victories and even fewer failures. Bring it on! We want to be that old couple that still holds hands and the love we share is honest and apparent - the old couple that young couples look at hoping that's what they will look like one day.

So... I've put together a photo documentary of our "I Do's" and a few bad "do's" that we have sported over the last 20 years for you to enjoy, laugh at, tease us about, etc. Man, what were we thinking in some of those? We've come a long way, I think. We're proud of our family, our accomplishments, our committment and our life we've made together. We've learned from our strengths and our weaknesses. We've grown and we know we're not done. We're proud of where we've come from, where we've been and where we're headed.

The song in the photo album is an old Cindy Morgan song called "How Could I Ask For More". It's "our song" so to speak and just makes me cry every time I hear it. It's so perfect for us. Enjoy the pics and the journey through time. Turn your speakers up and tell the kids the be quiet.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I hope the world can see how much we love each other cause "We Still Do!" and we always will.