To me, being married really is like a good book. You look at that book and you think, “I’m just on Chapter 1…it will take me forever to get through this.” But then you take it one page at a time, one day at a time.

I think the biggest change I have experienced this year was simply my belief in myself and the things I could do.

The truth is, we need to slow down and enjoy whatever it is that is happening.

Tonight, I will worry less about the wrapping paper and more about wrapping my arms around those I love. I will worry less about making things perfect, and I will focus more on the One who is love’s perfection.

Trust me, I have spent plenty of holidays in a bad mood, but I have realized that most of that is my own doing and I can easily undo that or do it another way.

What people will remember most about us is the way we treated them and the way we made each person feel.

I’m going to give you permission to take your moment whenever and however you need to do it.

Be patient. But what does that mean? How do we do it? And how do we know we’ve been patient long enough?

But the truth is, no matter how good or how bad, no matter how full or how lonely, no matter how near or how far, there is always, always something to be thankful for.

“For better or worse, in sickness and in health…” Our marriage vows. So much said and not said in these few words.

Sometimes you just have to let go of the way you thought things would be and roll with the way things actually are at that moment.

I really think I have watched more Kahn Academy videos than probably most recent high school graduates.

This journey ultimately led to some outward changes, but those changes cannot be matched to the inward changes that occurred.

But even the teaching phase does not last very long. Next thing you know, they know what they are doing, and they are out on their own. No more drop offs, no more taxiing around, no more checking in the rearview mirror.

Parenting is no joke. Let me be more clear…parenting is hard, so hard, quite possibly one of the hardest jobs any of us will ever have.

I’m telling you to just let it go. Let what go? Whatever “it” is that you need to let go.

I have found that the more open I am with others, the more open they are with me, and we are both better because of it.

In all of this, I am learning that as much as I want to be everything to every person, I simply cannot do it. I am learning that may be an unrealistic expectation.

I had to stop and look at the years of collecting. The books, the boxes, the bins…they were signs of times that were gone, a life that was now changed.

Marriage is full of magical moments….your vows on the alter, the birth of your children, special anniversaries, celebrating milestones. But there’s other magic…sweet, simple, fairy tale magic.