a year in the life...

this week, booyeon and i head off to new york--the starting place of the romance that is our marriage. it was march of 2004. i was a scruffy-headed marketing manager and she was a sophisticated research analyst. we had met each other for the first time many times while volunteering for church together. she wrote me off as an arrogant piss-ant and i categorized her as a goodie goodie church girl. at the wedding of a friend, i refused to dance and she refused to stop making fun of me—it was love at first sight. we shared the city with one another for 3 weeks that felt like 3 months. booyeon booked a one-way ticket to tokyo to pursue journalism and i booked a trip on the “lonely express” to stay in new york. since there really was no alternative, we foolhardedly decided to keep dating. i chased her to japan, she returned home for some trips and we kept filling the pockets of the inventors of instant messaging. international phone cards became our best friends and pictures served as reminders for what the other person looked like. eventually, booyeon decided to sacrifice everything and check into the hotel california while i pursued delusions of theological grandeur at fuller.

and now…

it's been one year since most of you joined us in anaheim for our wedding, suffering through the "blizzard of '06" and later witnessing what is unofficially the longest first dance in wedding history (yet equally as tender). over the past year we've gotten to know some of you better while slowly dropping others of you like bad habits (i joke, of course—some of you just won’t go away). it's been an interesting year of learning about how life is lived in the midst of good and bad times with another human being who often knows you better than yourself and sometimes has no clue who the hell you are. there have been too many precious moments to recount. but in an attempt to convey my happiness with married life, i've come up with the first annual:

10 Things I've Learned in Marriage This Year
10. In any given argument it's completely possible to be so "right" and yet so wrong all at the same time.
9. Money isn't the root of all evil. Leaving dirty underwear on the ground is.
8. 90% of any disagreement is related to communication. And of this 90%, 100% is usually the fault of the male.
7. The pragmatic response is not always the appropriate response.
6. It’s all warm and fuzzy to start thinking of having children. But spending about 12 minutes with friends who do will sober you up real quick.
5. Watching TV while your wife is talking can be hazardous to your health.
4. On that note, nothing will get your wife talking quicker than turning on your favorite football game. Funny how that timing works.
3. I shudder to think what I would be like without Booyeon. But images of an overweight, soiled-clothed man in a velour sweatsuit sitting next to a pile of unpaid bills come to mind.
2. The quickest way to mend an issue is to say “I’m sorry.” The best way, though, is to actually mean it.
1. Jesus is the best marriage counselor. It’s just a shame we don’t book more appointments with Him.


here's to small dreams becoming tender realities...