“I do. I take you to be my wedded husband/wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, and I will never change my mind.”

These were the vows we took 16 years ago. We believed wholly in our promise to one another. This commitment was a done deal, come what may. Each of us were utterly sincere; but oh, how young and untested we were!

The first month of our Nashville summer was almost perfect. The kids put away all their homeschool books. We grilled out on our patio, went for family hikes, and checked out a few community festivals. I renewed our pool membership and we used it like mad. We took a road trip to South Dakota to see our family. We sent Addison to his first ever sleep away camp for a week.