Friday the 13th is always one of my favourite days, but July13th is the best ever! 21 years ago I stood beside Tim, before God and a church full of people, and vowed my love and respect forever. I haven't always been loving or respectful, but the forever part is working out... the key word being working! I am a work in progress and I must admit, I am a lot of work! This year's adventure, as honeymoon-ish as it may appear, has afforded us many opportunities to sharpen our edges. To use welder's terms - iron sharpens iron - and we are both well-defined in this area.

In any given year at home our marriage could juggle stress and busyness in just the right order so that issues that glared at us in the face were creatively diverted and shuffled under many unseen carpets. In a year of no stress and no busyness you would think our marriage would be next to perfect - except for the fact that we ourselves are now glaring at each other face to face with nowhere to divert or shuffle anything.

I picture marriage as a conglomerate work of art created by the individual efforts of two artists. Their mediums may differ, their colours may clash, and their styles may vary, but the result of their labour will inevitably reflect their corporate genius, not the individual's talent.

As we forge on with our newly identified carpets of "stuff" laying before us, I cannot help but return today to the verses we promised to live by two decades ago from Colossians 3:12-14

THEREFORE, AS GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE, HOLY AND DEARLY LOVED, CLOTHE YOURSELVES WITH COMPASSION, KINDNESS, HUMILITY, GENTLENESS, AND PATIENCE. BEAR WITH EACH OTHER AND FORGIVE WHATEVER GRIEVANCES YOU MAY HAVE AGAINST ONE ANOTHER... FORGIVE AS THE LORD FORGAVE YOU. AND OVER ALL THESE VIRTURES PUT ON LOVE, WHICH BINDS THEM ALL TOGETHER IN PERFECT UNITY.

Happy Anniversary Tim, with all my heart I really do love and respect you - even when I don't like you! xo

(p.s. thanx for the awesome breakfast Eden)