Five Years of Josh and Ashlee

Five years ago this afternoon, Ashlee Sullivan and I exchanged our wedding vows at Vanderbilt Divinity School's Benton Chapel. Earlier that day, Ashlee's grandmother, Mattie Lou "Sitty" Resha, died. And I'll always remember the preacher who married us, William Jones (one of my divinity school classmates, who did a great job) darting across the divinity school lawn toward the back door of the chapel five minutes after the ceremony was supposed to have started. The ceremony itself, which Ashlee and I had spent months carefully mapping out, lasted an entire seven minutes. The reception featured a Yoda cake and some spectacular dancing by our friend Phil Wittlief. (And, as Meyer often reminds us, he was not present at his parents' wedding.) It was a day that we will not soon forget.

A lot has happened since 2002. We've adopted a fourth cat, joined a church, found unique jobs that are suited to our gifts and interests, bought a house, and had two children. The good times have certainly overshadowed the bad, and I've never doubted that Ashlee and I are meant to be together. Today will be the first of many Josh-and-Ashlee wedding anniversaries that are deemed milestones by a base ten numeral system.