Ryan and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary on Sunday. I dragged that man back to the beach that feels sacred enough to be holy ground and maybe it was because I made a cake, or trailed around all morning while he scouted garage sales, or perhaps, just maybe, he kind of wanted to revisit that place too; whatever the reason, he was cavalier and thoughtfully accompanied on my emotional boo-hoo trip to nostalgia.

And he didn't even show signs of minding all that much when I asked him to stand in the same places and I narrated the entire event like maybe he wasn't there or something.

I guess it's a stereotype, but I've heard on multiple occasions that the first year is the hardest. Well, maybe it's because Ryan and I delighted in living in sin for so long, but this first year was a breeze. Oh, there were challenges alright, but all of them unrelated to our marriage in general. I guess we did the legwork back in 2008 when we first met, and so I knew full well when I married him that his socks would never reach the laundry basket, and he knew I'd always spend more money on nail polish than food.


I'm going to suggest something that some may disagree with, but this is my sincere experience. Love is easy. Marriage is easy. Relationships are easy.

When you're in the right one.

This man makes me happy. He nourishes my ambition while somehow managing to keep his own lit on fire. That is my favorite of all of his sublime characteristics. Ambition. This love makes it all so easy.

I am compelled to admit that we lack real challenges and that also makes it easy. We don't have kids and neither of us is juggling 4 jobs. We know who does the dishes and we know who mows the lawn.  We have established guidelines for parenting our dogs.

See? Easy.

But, mostly we just love each other. And that makes it most easy.

***

"And remember children, marriages and flower gardens reflect the kind of care they get."