Looking Back

Last week as I drove to pick up D from the airport I was struck by the date. July first a year ago I was spending time with my Hubby on his last day of being a New Yorker. This year as I picked him up from his international flight I was struck by how much things change and how much they stay the same. Thankfully.

Turns out D had made the connection too. This time last year one of us was driving on to meet new things and the other was trying to wrap things up in our old life.

Neither of us could guess what the next year would hold. What a year! I've been asked a couple of times recently what was the hardest time in our marriage. Without a doubt it started March 2016. Since that month we've lost two beloved cats, sold our first house, drove cross country each by ourselves, settled into new jobs, survived a major medical event for D and illnesses during D's recovery period.

As difficult as the year has been it made me stronger. It made us stronger. We share a bond now. We have been through for better or worse and in sickness and in health. We have lived our vows to a greater extent. (Even though we did not use those vows.) And that makes me happy.

So yeah it has not been a walk in the park, but a tiptoe through a minefield. We hold things much closer but looser. And that is not a bad lesson to have learned. When we face difficult times in the future we can look back at our "worst" year and know that we have strength and endurance. And we will pray that it will be enough to get us through anything.