9 Years

It's crazy to think that 9 years ago I married Luke. Our wedding day went by in a blur and sadly there is alot of that day I can only remember because of pictures, but there is one precious moment that God has allowed me to remember: it was right before I walked down the aisle when I had a moment all to myself, to stop and really think about what I was about to do. No one had to ask me if I wanted to marry Luke because I was crazy in love with him since the third time I saw him (a funny part of our story for another day), but still I paused and in my heart choose Luke for my husband at that moment. However, despite that fact, I still had no idea what I was really doing and what the next stage of my life would look like being Luke's wife.

I said the traditional marriage vows to Luke:

I, Melissa, take you Luke, to be my husband, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.

What I should have said:

I, Melissa, choose you Luke, to be my husband, help mate, and best friend, to have and to hold from this day forward, in your best times and in your worst, even when you are asking me to establish a budget, teasing me for the 100th time about my "going to town" to get the groceries, not giving me quality time, and when I am taking care of all three kids because you have another stomach bug. I eagerly anticipate the chance to grow old together and look forward to getting to know the man you will become, and falling in love a little more every day. I will give you the grace to change your mind on where we will raise our family even if that means we are in Austin until we are old and gray. I will trust you and respect you as the leader of our family, laugh with you (you can laugh outloud and I will laugh in my head : )) and cry with you (well, atleast I will cry), loving you faithfully from this day forward until death do we part.

Luke's vows would definitely need to sound a bit more like this:

I, Luke, choose you Melissa, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, through all your mood swings and stubborness, even when you decide to dye your hair black, when you have gone over budget, when I have to do everything for 3 straight months until the 1st trimester is over, during the frustrating time while you figure out your love languages so that I can love you well, and whether we have sex this week or not. I will do my best to love on you by cleaning your hair out of the shower drain, cooking pancakes on Saturday mornings, and by cleaning up the kitchen after you have cooked (very messily I might add). I promise this from this day forward, until death do we part.

For your viewing pleasure, nine early pictures of Luke & Mel. Okay, so these were all taken before the age of digital and have been scanned in so some are not the best quality. Happy Anniversary to us!

A ski trip 2 months after we met and 4 months before our engagement.

I got to help cleanup an amazing prank pulled off by Sean & Colin??? in which Luke & Mike's bathroom was filled to the ceiling with newspapers.

At my friend Mindy's wedding right after we got engaged.

Addressing wedding invitations

Luke & his boys.

The Tackett siblings.

I am just the right height for a forehead kiss : )

One of the few together honeymoon pictures. Taken in Cozumel.

Leaving for my new home as Mrs. Luke Mezger.