Held together by love (and a lot of nails)
The farmhouse table, 9 years in. July 2026. On the occasion of my and my husband's first wedding anniversary, I wrote an essay about his quest to build a farmhouse table for our backyard, and my struggle personal growth opportunity to support his vision. As I summed it up at the time: "Here, my biggest takeaway from our first year of marriage crystallized in a hefty, wooden, substantial way: the joy is in the teamwork. I can fuss and schedule and manage all I want, but we are strongest when we work together. I'm saying this out loud to you because this lesson is not easy. I do not always heed it. I am often bad at it. But when we hit our stride ... man, are we unstoppable. So with that in mind, I'd like to take this moment to say -- Happy 1st Anniversary, Nature Boy! Every time we sit and eat and laugh at the gorgeous table you built, may we remember it is held together by love.* * And lots of nails." But as we now celebrate our 10th anniversary—a decade, a life...
