Dude!

Dude!

I use that word more than I care to admit. Usually, it's when I'm in shock. More to the point, it's when I've let myself dabble in my imagination a little too long and am quickly brought back to reality...by peanut butter smeared into my couch...or my arm being flung at my side as a call to attention. Often, it's along the lines of, "Dude! I'm a Mom." Then I happily frolic in that reality...and returning my couch to it's... well, I suppose pre-peanut butter splendor doesn't fit as a description. It's a Lazy Boy that became a Lazy Man a long time ago. By the end of this July, I will have owned that couch outright for ten years.

Today, however, I will have owned my husband outright (for as loosely as you can take that) for eight years. Today, we celebrate our Wedding Anniversary. Compared to some marriages, that's a lifetime. Compared to the average, we need to hang for another 16 and beyond. According to my husband, we'll be going strong for another 200 years...Because he's a dreamer like that. According to me, I'm more than happy to take it day by day.

That's not a negative statement in the least. It's a realistic statement. Like anyone else who's been married longer than the honeymoon -- or even been committed to one person for longer than a month (give or take) -- marriage is work. It's a challenge to be relished every day. It's something you live in the moment. It takes practice; even for the most romantic among us. As a college acquaintance once put it, in marriage, you basically make a new decision every day to stay with this one person no matter what. Prince Charming wafts away in the breeze. Cinderella gets back to the laundry. In marriage, you learn what it means to walk in love and faith.

Maybe I was a slow learner, but those were lessons that I didn't acquire over night. I started to finally grasp them after many years and many tries. Even now, I'm not certain that I've totally learned the lessons well, but I do a whole lot better at living out what I've grasped so far.

...And so, in the light of the day after I forgot to put the remaining spaghetti sauce in the freezer; leaving it instead to spoil overnight, I try to be a good wife. I try to be the partner I know he deserves and remember he's just as human as I am.

Happy eight years, Snickerdoodle! I lu' ya and thank you for decided to be with me every single day!