so yes it’s lateish thurs nite or feels that way cos i am weirdly quite tired and tbV is upstairs working hard cos she has to get thesis changes to her people before she goes away…

which is tomorrow – my lovely wife has a whole weekend of secret plans (at least til sun when we mite be back for the grand prix or at the very least enGAGE church service and world cup final possibly at Ginos with the gang) and we are going away somewhere (i know not where) and i am really looking forward to it

as is she cos i know she desperately wants me to know all the secrets but without giving them to me so she is super amped and i am super amped and it is cool that we celebrate cos it’s been a great year

a crazy, fun, rollercoaster, love-growing, relationship-learning, chatting, laughing, bonding, growing, playing, making-up’ing, series’ing, [  ]ing, gaming, cooking, Jesus’ing, justice’ing year (and some other 18th thing)

and it grows… the love…

as i always say (well i mean, i do say other things cos if this was all i said it would get a little monotonous if this was all i said it would get a little monotonous if this was all i said) marriage to the right person is incredible

hard at times yes, painful at times for sure (you’re living around another person all the time – can’t just pick the good times like with dating) but amazingly empoweringly worth it

which is why it is worth celebrating

and worth trying harder to do better

and ‘trying harder’ really means more submitting (to God and tbV), surrender, sacrifice (the kind you choose more than the kind forced upon you) lifting her above myself, serving, loving

as well as less of a bunch of stuff which hopefully i will continue to work on

here’s to the beautiful Val and the next amazing year, here’s to marriage between one man and one woman which is the best way to live out long-term committed relationships, here’s to a cord of three strands where God (hopefully) has center stage in our lives individually and together and definitely pulls us tight

i love you my babe. i choose you and keep choosing you. thank you in advance for this weekend. mine.