Our anniversary started at 5:30 a.m. when my alarm went off, signaling that it was time to rise and hit the road on the way to the Boundary Waters (Northern Minnesota).  Our first stop was for a romantic breakfast for Flapjacks and Egg McMuffins at McDonald’s.  I know what you are thinking, “Not exactly a great start Larry.”  Well it only got better from there.  By 1:00 we were safely into our canoe for the first leg of our trip.  A mere 75 degrees with no clouds in the sky, (to an East Coaster you are saying “so what”, but for Northern Minnesota that type of weather in late September is rare).  We even had the wind at our backs the entire day.  After about 5 miles of paddling and 5 portages we finally made it to our campsite.  A great campsite it was, nestled on top of a little ledge overlooking the lake.  We had a great anniversary dinner meal of Laura’s favorite “hot-dogs”.  After dinner we sat quietly taking in the sunset and being thankful for the day, all that we have, and thankful for each other.  Sunset’s like that don’t last forever, so we enjoyed it while we could.  I know that all the great times I have had with Laura in year 4 were not going to last forever, but I still took advantage of enjoying every last bit of our memories together.

That night we sat together under the moon and stars, listening to the loons on the lake, and reminiscing about where the Lord has taken in the past year.  It is a tradition that Laura and I always ask each other the highlights of the past year and what we have learned together in the past year.  Other anniversaries in the past we went to nice restaurants or a hotel, so I thought we would switch it up this time and spend a night at the 2-man tent.  For us it is not about the food we eat or about where we stay (though those things are nice and important at times), but this year was about being still before God by that sunset and just enjoying being together and being quiet after a fast pace transitional year.  Four years down and many more to go with my beautiful wife!!!