Dear Husband,
Happy Anniversary!
Thirty four years ago we took our wedding vows in the preacher's house, blind to the future- yet, willing to take a chance at facing the world together. I guess we could both lie and say it's all been a big, fun trip. But anyone who has been married knows that it's not all kisses and candy. It's hard work. It's dedication.
It's ups and downs and ins and outs and emotions too big for our hearts. We sure have had our share of better and worse.
Marriage is so much more than sharing a bed. It's sharing moments and events.Like picking out a lamp for the living room, or taking turns driving on a long trip, or nursing one another when the flu hits.
It's laughing at a movie, rubbing feet, eating breakfast at 3 a.m. and snapping photos in front of the Christmas tree.
But it's also grieving together when our parents died, burying our favorite dogs, walking the floors at night when the kids had an earache. It's fighting about money, angry about events, depressed over things we had no control of.
It's joy over our children, yet a fear for their safety. A peace when they've grown, yet a slight break in our hearts- a tiny hole in our world. It's the thrill of grandchildren and knowing that love surpasses generations and age. It's hope for the future. It's fondness for the past. It's going to sleep every night with our pillows touching and our arms entwined.
It's knowing that no matter how bad things get, we have each other. And that no matter how good things get, we still want each other to share it all with.
It's Heaven. It's Hell. It's peace and harmony and chaotic confusion. It's colorful and black and sweet and sour and funny and sad and a zigzag of years that lead a path to today.
Thank you for loving me. Thank you for marrying me when I know you just wanted to take off in the sunset with your Eagles albums and your dog Abe and never have any responsibilities. Thank you choosing me, especially when all those other girls would step over Brad Pitt to get to you. (Or so you said.) :) Thank you for giving me second chances when I burned dinner, overdrew our bank account, drove the tractor into the truck, and accidentally dyed my hair red. Thank you for letting me squeeze your hand into a purple pulp of swollen fingers while I was in labor three times. Thanks for being there to smile down at me when they wrapped those babies up for us to adore.
Thanks for sharing poopy diapers, training bras, baseball bats, and college entrance forms. Thanks for understanding PMS, menopause, and the need for a new purse.
What more can I say?
The whole world knows I love you, love you.
The whole world knows I cannot ever stop.
