An anniversary

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. 
-Lao Tzu


Today is our 3rd wedding anniversary.  Despite all the claims, it seems we did not wreck the institution of marriage, nor cause the decline of responsible child-bearing, nor  eradicate religious freedom, nor push the planets from their courses. Maybe next year.

But it continues to have an amazing impact on me. Recently, I posted this in the comments of another blog:

I can attest that the fact of marriage was revelatory to me. Yes, our long term relationship was strong, and we willingly worked to keep it so (since every relationship takes work). But with marriage, that work becomes something profound and beautiful, something that lifts us up beyond ourselves so that the "we" truly becomes greater than the sum of "you" and "me", and further weaves us into the tapestry of community in a way that simply living together never could.

Every day, I feel blessed to be married to my Beloved.

Blog note: this is the 1000th post here at FoJ. We're traveling, so blogging will be light from me for a while (though I've queued a couple of things up for you).