Ironically, the slogan “Throwback Thursday” accompanied with the hashtag #tbt began in 2006 … the year that we got married. It was invented by Bobby Sanders who did this for his own amusement to post older photos of himself and events he enjoyed. The idea spread as people did the same.
Google Trends data shows us that #FlashbackFriday has been around longer than #ThrowbackThursday, but #tbt appears to remain more popular (probably due to Thursdays being a more popular social media day). Either way, the craze of looking back to jog memories has proven to be a great pastime for many people for many years. Now with apps like Timehop and Facebook memories, people all over the world wake up daily in excitement to see what they were doing on that particular day one, five, or even fifteen years ago.
Others have gotten on the bandwagon of “Then and Now” by recreating or reenacting the once staged photograph from years before and taking another picture in the same location, in the same outfit, or on the same day, just many years later. And of course since we wanted in on this social media frenzy, we decided to take a set of our own #thenandnow pictures on the 15th anniversary of our wedding. So earlier this month, we created our very own #flashbackfriday and took a mini road trip to the place we said “I Do.”
In 15 years of marriage, we’ve had three amazing kids. Instead of leaving them behind and planning a trip of a lifetime to celebrate our #anniversary (because that takes A LOT of work and planning), we decided to include the children on our adventure. Little did we know that it was going to be a trip of a lifetime for them, too!
We showed up on the steps of The Harriet Himmel Theater with a few printed pictures in hand (digital photos weren’t really an option yet when we got married). It was so much fun to show the kids what we wore, where we stood, and help them imagine what we did and how we felt. Then, instead of them just admiring what our wedding photographer captured, our two oldest kids got to be our photographers for an anniversary shoot.
Telling our sons and daughter the story of our wedding probably forced us to go further down memory lane than if we had just gone without the kids to snap a “15 Years Later” photo. Honestly, it allowed us to remember things that we had forgotten. And even as we sat at a loud burger joint with our crazy kids instead of indulging on a romantic anniversary dinner, it gave us the opportunity to look at each other and say:
“I thought I loved our life then, but I love our life even more now!”
So how is YOUR “Then and Now”? Do you need another #throwbackthursday or #flashbackfriday to remember why you embarked on this thing called marriage? Can you truly say you love your spouse more today than yesterday?
Don’t wait until January 1st or a new year of something to reflect on the previous one. And don’t wait until your next anniversary to celebrate each other. Every week has a Thursday … and if you miss that, Friday comes the next morning!
After we personally reflected on how our life is NOW vs. how it was THEN, we came up with a podcast series: “15 Lessons After 15 Years of Marriage” to express what we’ve learned on this relational journey together. We’ve already kicked it off with Lesson #1: Support Your Spouse and Lesson #2: Have Sex Often (With Your Spouse). This Monday continues with Lesson #3: Intimacy is More Than Just Sex. Soon, we will be wrapping up the 15 week series with a lesson on “Remember Your Why.”
Think about that today and tell your spouse. Schedule a #flashbackfriday. Embark on making the NOW so much better than the THEN, but remember the #throwbackthrusday to celebrate how far you’ve come.
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