How I Spent My 25th Wedding Anniversary

Jim and I have now been married for 25 years! Is that even possible? We had sort of planned to do something fun last evening—maybe go downtown to the Denver Art Museum and then go out to eat at our favorite restaurant on the 16^th Street Mall (we’ve been there once), the Paramount Cafe. But Jim had a meeting that went long, and he’d been working all day on the kitchen . . . so we’ll do it this weekend. But we ended up doing something we really enjoyed, even though it may sound pretty boring: we figured out what we want to do with the dining nook in our new kitchen.

We’re very constrained by the space available, and I’ve spent more time that I would have thought possible looking at small dining sets. (I’ve since decided that what we decided to do isn’t workable, but it was fun to work on it together.)

We’re investing a fair amount of time, trouble and (some) money in this whole project and we have a long way to go. The experience has left me wondering how professional designers ever make a living doing this, but I guess after awhile you know what you’re doing. In the midst of all this plotting and planning I’ve rediscovered the Young House Love people, John and Sherry. They spend their lives working on their house(s) and then blogging about what they’ve done. And I discovered that they have a podcast, as I mentioned. There are multiple ways to access the podcast, so here’s the specific link that will give you the options: “Holy Cats, We Have a Podcast.” Also, the vibe between them is very cute.

But does all of this really matter? Why on earth even bother? As I’ve realized before, all of this beautiful stuff is going to burn up anyway. As II Peter 3:10 says about the end of the world, “The elements will be destroyed by fire” (NIV). Everything is ultimately going to be undone, so maybe we should just use a cardboard box for our table and sit on the floor. But humans are made with a desire for order and beauty that cannot be denied. I have posted before about the classic little book A Return to Christian Culture by Richard Taylor. In that post I noted his experiences with decorating his own home and how much he and his wife enjoyed the process.

It’s another one of those fine-line things, the drunk riding down the road and falling off the horse into the extreme ditch on either side. We’re not going to hire a decorator or have custom furniture made. We’re re-using a lot of our stuff. The dining set I’ve picked out is from Overstock.com. (A coat of paint and different seat upholstery is in its future.) I’ll make the cornices, curtains and pillows myself. I decided that the dinnerware I originally picked out was just too expensive, so I kept looking and found something I like better that’s much cheaper.

The saga continues! Jim and our friend Ernie are downstairs figuring out the lights for the kitchen, a process that’s unbelievably complicated, what with the ceiling tiles and the joists. If all goes as planned the kitchen cabinets will be installed Friday or Saturday and I’ll have some great pics to show off next Monday. In the midst of all this chaos and conferring real life goes on: ministry, family get-togethers, blogging, etc., etc.

What area of your life is calling out for some order and beauty? What could you do to make it happen?