Ten Years

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Ten is such a complete number.

Ten fingers, ten toes.

Ten commandments, ten plagues.

Ten Hail Mary’s in a decade of the Rosary.

I remember when I turned ten

in fourth grade – quiet and studious,

long blond hair and a shy smile,

embarrassed by my crooked teeth.

I have heard stories about your tenth year.

Riding your bike through the neighborhood;

doing flips off the high board at the local pool;

finding adventures from sunrise to sunset.

So much had changed

in those first ten years of life –

all that growing, learning, discovering.

In these ten years since our wedding

we have also changed:

          growing in love,

          learning each other,

          discovering life as a couple.

We are not the same people

who professed vows

on that chilly May evening

on the banks of the Mississippi.

We have leaned so far into the other

the in-between is only a wisp of a breath -

just enough for prayers of gratitude:

ten Hail Mary’s and a Glory Be.