Older is Better

Last night Keith and I returned from a four-day 15th anniversary trip to the Smokies. OK, for those of you who know we were married in December, you might be thinking, "Isn't it a bit early to be celebrating?" NO WAY!! We knew December would be risky weather to travel to the mountains, and after seeing the road we had to push our poor little minivan up, we knew July was the right choice!!

WE HAD A BLAST!! I highly recommend at least 15 years of marriage to really enjoy yourselves on a getaway. The time is sweeter because you've been through soooooo much together, because you never get that many days in a row without children once they start coming, and because you are amazed at the things you can still do in your mid-thirties!! Older is just better; which is great news for those of us who see time railroading across our foreheads! Oh how I enjoyed this special time with my best friend and sweetheart. We enjoyed our cabin immensely, which had a killer view of the mountains (thus the incredibly steep road!), had a hilarious adventure tubing down a "calm" river (I'm glad we picked the "relaxed route"), and topped it off with a 5 mile hike that ended in a near-death experience with a wild bear. What else can I say? We are wild and adventurous thirty-somethings. Seriously, compared to our actual honeymoon when we were 21 and 22, this trip was an extreme adventure!! So I guess we just keep surprising ourselves with living in the moment and taking every opportunity to create great memories together.

Keith looked at me as if I had two heads the morning I said, "Why don't we go tubing?" His eyebrows went up and he said, "Really? Are you sure about that?" Only later did I see why he asked that. I was expecting the lazy river at the pool area-kind of tubing. Later, when I couldn't control my speed and flipped my tube and almost seriously injured my leg, I saw why he'd asked if I was sure. For a split second, as the current carried me under and I couldn't get my head above water, I had the split-second thought, "This is it, I'm going to die on our 15th anniversary trip. What a time to go." But God let me live, and I'm so thankful.

We had so much time to just talk, one of our favorite things to do with each other. We didn't solve any major world issues or figure out the next 20 years of our lives, but we connected and remembered again why there's nobody else in the world we'd rather be with 24hrs., 7 days a week, than each other!