For many of those years, we held tightly to those hopes and dreams and so many plans. Much of what we dreamed about came true, much of what we worked towards happened, and much of what we had planned to do, we did. It has been a good life.
One year ago today, at our anniversary dinner together, we did something we hadn’t done in years. We talked about new dreams, and new hopes, and new plans. We were now older (sometimes if feels like much older), hopefully wiser, and the things we wanted out of life had changed over the years. One year ago today, we sat at a bar table outside of the movie theater as we waited for our showtime. We probably sounded like a couple of kids, maybe even newlyweds. We both spelled out what we wanted out of our future and we excitedly shared how we could do it.
We both voiced that we loved the life we built and the family we made. We talked about how much we love our five children and our relationship with them, and how we love the relationships they have with each other. We held hands over the table as we both agreed we love how much we have learned to work together.
We also talked about the not-so-fun stuff like how we were ready to move on from where we were living. We were ready to slow down and focus more on our family and less on our to-do list. We wanted to downsize our home and simplify our lives. We realized we were spending too much time doing things we don’t want to do and not enough time on the things we find important. We talked about our student loan debt and consumer debt and how much that was still holding us back. We talked about all of the distractions we had allowed to get in the way of our relationship with God, with each other, and with our kids.
Then we talked about what we could change. What we could simplify. How we could slow down. We got giddy at the idea of really honing in on what we think is working for us and what we think we could improve. We excitedly shared our ideas to slow down the pace of life and pick up the pace of debt payoffs.
We also talked about how there’s no way we were the only people feeling this way. How there must be other families faced with the same challenges. How there must be other people looking to do the same things we want to do. We realized we could share all of this through blogging and we could connect with those other people. We thought maybe, just maybe, we could help others who may be on our same journey just by us being open and honest.
We walked away from our anniversary date night a year ago with more hope and more excitement than we had felt in years. Much like our wedding day, we knew what we wanted and knew we had no idea how it would all play out.
Today, we celebrate twenty years of marriage in a small restaurant in our new historic downtown nestled in the Great Smoky Mountains. Our kids are at home together in our recently purchased downsized 1905 farmhouse. We have no debts other than our 15-year mortgage. For nearly a year now, we have been sharing our story through blogging about simplifying our lives and paying off debt.
One year ago today we were clueless how we would do the things we said we wanted to do. Much like our wedding day, we joined hands, bowed our heads, and we just knew.
These have been the best 20 years of our lives, and we look forward to the even better next 20 to come. Hand-in-hand, we will keep dreaming and hoping and living this unbinded, faith-filled life together!
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