Of Irises And Anniversaries

The irises are blooming at The Ranch.

Longer term readers may recall that the irises are more than likely from my maternal grandparent's garden, so in a sense they are blooming for two generations.  I feel fortunate I was there to be able to see it this year.

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This week was our 30th Wedding Anniversary.

If you had asked me what was in mind about what "marriage" would be like the day I got married, I likely would have not had a good answer for you.  It would have been pretty vague idea based on the examples I had: my parents, my grandparents, most of my relatives and my friend's parents (divorce was still rare in the days that I grew up), Church teachings, and those verses in the Bible that talk about marriage but seem vague when you have no experience with it.  

To say I was hopelessly naïve about marriage is an understatement, but I suspect it is for many people - after all, like many human experiences in practice it seems only by living through it can one actually understand what it is like.

That day 30 years ago did not fully anticipate things like disagreements and practical financial matters.  It only casually held the experiences of having children, let alone raising them. It did not really foresee things like changing jobs and moving and buying homes and financial distress and figuring out which chores were the best for each to do.

On the other hand, it did not foresee the good things either, like time together and experiencing life in a way that only going through it with someone else there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  It not foresee vacations and adventures and sometimes just the art of living quietly with someone else.

As wiser heads than me have written, it was nothing like I expected but far more than I could hope for.