Katherine Arnold Wolf Updates

Today is our 5-year wedding anniversary. WOW! Anniversaries are milestones.

Similar to birthdays, they connote the passage of time and are reminders to be grateful for the past and hopeful for the future.

I have such happy memories from our wedding. Athens, Ga (my hometown and where we got married) is glorious in the fall. I always wanted to get married then. All the leaves are changing, the weather is fabulous, and there is just a little chill in the air that whispers Christmas is on it’s way. The day was beyond perfect in every way (I’m sure every bride thinks that), and I will forever cherish the memories I have from that day (thanks, Mom and Dad, for all you did!).

Our anniversary this year not only celebrates a wonderful (and quick) five years of marriage but especially how far I have come since my “second chance” at life. If you’ve been reading for a while, you may remember Jay posted on here about walking me to our bedroom to get ready and him rigging the wedding video to play as he walked me. It was one of my favorite memories of late. Today, I’m a little less dependent on him to literally walk me (though he’s always nearby to spot me!), but we are still dancing together in that most fantastic way.

I’m so pleased that this anniversary, I can write a little something about him (since I really could not write by myself last year or focus my eyes on a computer screen). I am so grateful for the incredible 5 years we have spent together. I know Jay did not think the whole “in sickness and in health” thing would mean so much so quickly in our marriage. However, he has hung in there with the best of them.

In order to perform my life-saving brain surgery, my wedding ring had to be cut off in the operating room. As Jay picked up that broken ring— looking very different than the ring he had given me just a few years before at our wedding— I think he wondered if it was somehow a sign that my life and our marriage would be over by the day’s end. Thankfully, that was not the plan that the Lord had for me that day. After I transitioned out of UCLA, Jay had my ring sautered back together. To this day, when I see that pieced-together ring, it reminds me of how my broken body is continuing to be made whole again. More importantly, I am so grateful that Jay and I, like my wedding ring, have been fused together, even stronger than before.

Perhaps one thing I’ve learned from 5 years of marriage is how much more you can love someone as the years go by. I remember ‘Miss Tanya’ told me that I would love my husband even more as the years go by. It’s amazing how true that has been. I love Jay Wolf in a deeper way than I did when we married. The past five years have brought a lifetime of experiences for us, many of which were unexpected, some of which were very difficult and others of which were beyond glorious. I love Jay for how he has confidently handled a major cross-country move, unexpected fatherhood, challenging graduate school, and hearing the words that no spouse should ever have to hear…”she may not make it”.

In many ways, his life has changed as much as mine has this past year and a half, and he has embraced these trials with strength and grace. He wears many hats these days, from father to husband, counselor to advocate, caregiver to homemaker. We are still best friends and though neither of us are perfect, we strive every day to fulfill our ultimate goal of making each other look more like Christ. In many ways, our relationship has been through as much stress and heartache as I can imagine, but as I look back over five years of marriage, we are not only surviving…we are thriving!

(I created this little wedding highlight video for his birthday this year, but in case you have not seen it and want to, here is the link.)

This entry was posted on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 9:07 am and is filed under CaringBridge.org Update. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.