My deepest thoughts about this last year are about how the friendship has grown. Trace and I met and knew pretty soon that we were compatible in a lot of ways. Romance has always been a part of our marriage, but I think this last year we really got to develop our friendship more. I learned more about Trace, his likes and dislikes, and more than than that I indulged in his likes more than I did during our first year of marriage. Example? Board games. Do I like board games? Generally, no. But I've definitely agreed to sit down more this last year to play and spend time with him. The reward? I get to be part of bringing him happiness and actually I've found some things I really like, too, like Pandemic Legacy. That has proven to be such an emotional game—what? A game I'm emotionally invested in? Whoa. And beyond the games, I've realized that I just really and genuinely like my husband.
Scaling cliffs or going somewhere exotic may come to mind when you see the word adventurous, but adventures don't always have to be big. In a lot of ways, we've had a lot of small adventures this last year. None of them include traveling outside of the country or plummeting to the earth in whatever scary fashion you so desire. Investing in church more, investing in people more, starting and even continuing a small group, eating somewhere new, family buying a house just to be close one day, trying Pinterest recipes with no promise that they'll actually taste good, walking in the first Walk/Run together, buying a house, believing in each other's dreams, and trying new coffee—those are our adventures. Not always big, but always fun. I guess all that to say maybe that's what marriage can be, experiencing and embracing every day like it's a new adventure. Not just the big stuff, but finding little things to experience to make life together interesting.
There are a few other words I could have used to wrap up this post, but the word funny is our closer. Wherever we're at, Trace and I laugh so much. And that's something that's hard to find. I love to laugh, and with him I know after a long day, or if something difficult happens, he'll be there and when the moment is right, we'll be laughing. We get to be goofy together. He laughs at me. We laugh at life. I laugh at him. Do you know how freeing that is? When you get to be goofy without fear of judgement or rejection? Oh man, it's the best. The other thing I love about Trace is that he's witty without being condescending! That's a rare trait. You ever meet people whose humor only reaches as far their next insult? That is definitely not Trace.
It has been a good year and I'm so thankful for my awesome husband. I can't believe we made it to this anniversary so quickly, but at least our time spent together is filled with fond memories. Here's to a wonderful second year of marriage!
Update // While I was writing this I asked Trace to think of his three words and not to tell me until I asked. After I published this, I asked him what his words were and he said... Fulfilling, funny, and adventurous. We both smiled.
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