Chapter 04 · the pages between

Twenty-nine years of little days.

Big dates make the timeline. Everything between them made the life: the trips, the pups, the games, the parties, and thousands of very ordinary days spent together.

Turn the page

19972026

A young Cris and Shirley smiling together in an early snapshot — the early pages

Shirley and Cris walking hand in hand through a garden in 2022 — still walking side by side

FRI25JUL · 1997

OUR VERY LONG CALENDAR

Friday, July 25, 1997 → today

The calendar kept filling up.

Some dates got a gold star. Some got a football, a tiny airplane, or a paw-print sticker. Most simply became another day we got to call ours.

VOLUME 011997—2005

Old cameras · real prints · no filters

The early pages.

Before every moment lived on a phone, there were flash photos, printed doubles, and the beginning of a very large pile of memories.

look how young we are ♡

Cris and Shirley together in an early plaid-shirt snapshot — one of the first stacks of prints

A young Cris and Shirley dressed in black and smiling together — leather jackets were having a moment

VOLUME 022006—2011

Shirley hugging Cris in a dated February 2006 snapshot — FEB 11 · 2006

Cris and Shirley lying on the floor with one of their fluffy pups — home is where the pups are

A scrapbook collage of Shirley and Cris dressed for Academy Awards events — a few very fancy Sundays

A life starts looking like a life

Pups, parties, and making a home.

The scrapbook got fuller: ordinary nights, beloved dogs underfoot, and the occasional excuse to get extremely dressed up.

VOLUME 032012—2016

April 15, 2012 · back where it began

The same spot. A new promise.

Cris proposed where they first met in 1997. Four years later, the planner held its biggest date yet: August 27, 2016.

Read the proposal chapter →Open the wedding planner →

Shirley showing her engagement ring while hugging Cris on April 15, 2012 — she said yes · 04.15.2012

Shirley and Cris sitting together beside the marina at sunset — the countdown begins

PACKERS SUNDAYS♡AIRPORT MORNINGS♡PUPS UNDERFOOT♡DINNER FOR TWO♡ONE MORE PHOTO

VOLUME 042016—2021

Shirley and Cris standing together at Machu Picchu — newlyweds, very far from home

Cris and Shirley in Milwaukee baseball jerseys at the ballpark — game day · 2018

Shirley and Cris relaxing together in an oversized bathtub at home — even staying in became a story

Shirley and Cris kissing beside an ocean view — and still this

Just married · then everywhere

Big trips. Quiet Sundays. All of it ours.

The spectacular views made the photo album. So did ball games and wonderfully uneventful afternoons at home.

VOLUME 052022—2026

The newest pages

Still filling the planner.

More birthdays. More beautiful places. More reasons to set a tiny table for two—and another anniversary waiting just ahead.

same two people, even better story

Shirley and Cris walking together through a garden in 2022 — twenty-five years · 2022

Shirley and Cris forming a heart with their hands above an island view — collecting the views

Cris and Shirley laughing together in front of birthday balloons — still celebrating everything

Shirley and Cris seated together at a lace-covered anniversary table — a table for two · always

Lamby peeking at the newest scrapbook pages

Lamby asleep beside the finished scrapbook page

The best part about a living scrapbook

There is no last page.

Twenty-nine years in, the calendar still has room—and Lamby is keeping watch over every blank square.

Next chapter: Ten Years

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