My favorite photograph from my wedding day eight years ago is an easy choice, although maybe not the most obvious to the outside observer.
In it, my husband Josh and I are silhouetted on a country club's dance floor, where we celebrated after our Aug. 14, 1999, church ceremony.
We're leaning in close, our foreheads touching slightly. It's the way we looked in our very early 20s. It's the way we will look, God willing, when we're our grandparents' age.
It's good to have that bedside reminder of how a relationship at its core can be timeless.
Another reminder came recently for us during our church's annual marriage retreat in Green Lake, when our church's pastor, who helped marry us, allowed us and other couples the opportunity to renew our wedding vows after a special dinner.
Eight years ago, we didn't write our own vows. In those days, we were too busy studying abroad and finishing college (me), and settling into a first "real" post-college job (Josh).
During the weekend getaway, which encouraged leaving wrist watches at home, we had the time to write out individual vows.
At dinner, we were the first couple to step forward. Our pastor and his wife, and the other couples present, circled around us as we stood under a canopy that symbolized God's hand over our lives.
I told Josh that he completes me as my other half, that I would continue to ask God's guidance so I could be the person He, and he, needed me to be.
Josh then shared his vow, that we would grow old together, "in all the good and bad ways people get older."
It's good to know some things don't have to change.
Kara Patterson: Post-Crescent staff writer
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