Jennifer and Lee getting married at Height of Land near Rangeley Plantation in Maine (2007)
Nineteen years ago, Lee and I stood before one another and promised, “Until death do us part.”
Neither of us could have imagined what those words would eventually mean.
We thought marriage would be about building careers, traveling, growing old together, and creating the kind of peaceful life we never really experienced growing up. Instead, life handed us challenge after challenge. We found ourselves navigating trauma, military service, chronic illness, toxic exposure, institutional betrayal, and years of searching for answers while simply trying to stay alive.
There were days when neither of us had much left to give.
But somehow, we always found enough to give each other.
When one of us couldn’t drive, the other did.
When one of us lost hope, the other carried it.
When the world dismissed our symptoms, questioned our integrity, or minimized our experiences, we reminded each other that we weren’t crazy—we were simply living through something no one had taken the time to understand.
Looking back, I realize we weren’t surviving because we were exceptionally strong.
We survived because we refused to leave one another behind.
Love wasn’t some grand romantic gesture.
Love was sitting beside each other in doctor’s offices.
Love was carrying groceries when the other couldn’t.
Love was encouraging one another to keep searching for answers after another disappointing appointment.
Love was believing each other when almost no one else did.
Over the past nineteen years, we’ve learned that real love isn’t measured by the easy seasons.
It’s measured by who stays when life becomes unimaginably difficult.
Today, we know more about what happened to us than we ever did before. We understand the role toxic exposures, prolonged stress, trauma, and years of medical neglect played in our health. We finally have answers that once seemed impossible to find. Those answers haven’t erased the past—but they have given us hope for the future.
I love this guy and it was obvious from the first day I met him.
We’re still in treatment.
Healing isn’t a straight line, and we still have work ahead of us. But for the first time in a very long time, we’re moving forward instead of simply trying to survive.
Our quality of life continues to improve.
We’ve built a peaceful life because peace isn’t a luxury anymore—it’s part of our treatment. We protect it fiercely because we now understand what chronic stress can do to the human body.
Most importantly, we still have each other.
Love carried us through the darkest chapters of our lives, and it continues to sustain us through every victory, setback, doctor’s appointment, road trip, sunrise, and ordinary day in between.
Nineteen years later, our vows mean even more than they did on our wedding day.
Not because life was easy.
But because we kept choosing each other anyway.
Happy 19th Anniversary, Lee.
I’d choose you all over again.
More Wedding Photos:
Jennifer and Lee after the wedding with the scenic view of Height of Land in the background (2007)
We just knew from the first day we met… and we were very happy on our wedding day.
Related Links:
Jennifer and Lee: Until Death Do Us Part (2024)
Jennifer and Lee 