With our anniversary coming and going this week, I have spent some time reflecting on 15 years of marriage. How we celebrated certainly reflected our current stage in life: parents of two kids, ages nine and eleven. On our actual anniversary, a school night, I wielded a glue gun on a school project for my eleven year old, asked my nine year old to get off his screens several times, and took a chilly bike ride around the neighborhood with my kids afterschool. Being a parent doesn’t stop on special occasions.

And I told my hubs that we can continue celebrating 15 years of marriage throughout the year; it doesn’t have to happen all on one day.

As a family, we enjoyed a delicious meal picked up from an area restaurant. We savored a steak dinner, while the kids opted for their usual restaurant fare: mac n cheese. Daddy O. bought me flowers & a card, I made him a card, and we opened cards our extended family had mailed. We listened to some songs from our wedding and watched tv together, snuggled under a blanket. It was a nice, quiet evening.

Family Anniversary Trip

As part of our extended celebration, we took a lovely anniversary weekend trip, as a family in February. We stayed in an adorable updated farmhouse Air BnB in Western Wisconsin. The kids loved the loft area on the 2nd floor with their pick of numerous beds.

We all loved the gorgeous views of the hilly area, including a colorful sunrise one morning.

We relaxed, read, watched Netflix, played games, snowshoed, played in the snow, explored the area, and grabbed takeout for a few meals. It was the perfect change of scenery from our home, a place where we have been for months during COVID-19. Our last trip away from home was in summer!

Looking Back

Looking back at our relationships, life takes twists and turns; we have our ups and downs, but our love has endured. We started dating in college, and he came out to help celebrate my 21st birthday. That spring, he finished up his undergrad degree, and moved out of state. I traveled out of the country for two back to back study abroad programs in Japan and Austria.

We went from long-distance in 2002 to no-distance in 2021, since he’s been working out of our bedroom since March 2020!

It is a blessing to have a stable job that can be done remotely, even if it means we are under the same roof 24/7. I’m still grateful to have him by my side each and every day. We make a good team.

During our marriage, we’ve lived in three different homes in two cities in two different states, gained a pet cat, pet ferret, and birthed two pretty amazing children.

I’ve worked full-time, stayed home, part-time, and started my own business. He’s supported me through all of my career moves and volunteer commitments. Several evenings a month, he flies solo with our kids, as I run off to school board meetings.

We share kid-shuttling duties and coach various sports teams (lately Daddy O. does more of this with soccer). It’s hard work raising humans, and we make an effort to stay connected as a couple by spending quality time together.

Overall, we’ve built a pretty incredible family and life together.

And that indeed is something to celebrate.

Want to read about how it all started? I answered some questions about marriage, babies, and bliss several years ago.