#182 Seven Years

Tess and I have been married for seven years today. (I think the proper response is to congratulate me and tell Tess how sorry you are for her.) A lot has happened in the past seven years. About a month into marriage we truly moved out on our own and started our own home in Grand Rapids, MI. I started seminary. Tess got her first "real" full-time job. Tess got a different job. We spent a summer interning in Washington. I finished seminary. We moved to Iowa so I could begin my first "real" full-time job. We had a baby. We had another baby. With the possible exception of some time in between Lanie's birth and Mia's birth, we've been in a pretty constant state of transition.

But let me tell you, the past seven years have been wonderful. I don't think even a single day has gone by in this stretch that hasn't been made better because Tess is in my life. The bad days aren't as bad as they could be, and the good days are even better than they would be if I was alone. Without Tess I don't know how I would've made it through all those transitions. Even this year seems unimaginable without Tess. After Mia was born I didn't feel like I was truly able to relax until Tess and I were together again in Des Moines. For the past few months COVID-19 has reconfigured my work life—changing the way our worship services work, limiting my ability to visit church members, putting much of my volunteering on hold—but Tess has been with me through it all. She's listened. She's encouraged. She's supported. Being the only pastor at a church can be a very lonely job, but every day I come home and I'm no longer alone.

Long story short, if we somehow went back time, I would marry Tess again in a heartbeat. After seven years, I'm excited to see what's yet to come.

Grace and peace,
BMH