It seems like just yesterday we met.  BW3’s, a wing joint.  I don’t even eat wings.  Ever.  But I will always be grateful for that establishment.  Was it chance?  Yes and No.  I went to meet you: the host of the talk show I listened to every morning.  But no, I didn’t think I was meeting my future.

I was immediately taken in by you.  So much so that I went home and wrote an email and still have the email you sent back.  I read it to my mother the next morning on our drive to Austin.  I told my favorite cousin all about you.  I was a goner, and we hadn’t even talked more than fifteen minutes.

Ten years later, you still take my breath away.

Literally.

You are everything I ever dreamed of and then some.  Everything that is good about my life comes from you.  (Okay, not everything, my parents and friends, but  you get the point!)  You make getting up worthwhile, sleeping in on a Saturday worthwhile and everything in between.

As I think back on the last ten years, I can say with certainty that they were pretty amazing.  I think of that first year, the excitement of living with my husband.    Learning how to live with someone who wasn’t just a roommate.  To live with someone for the rest of my life.  It was a pretty amazing year.  Our first home, our first Christmas~ hosting a huge gathering, our trips…it was incredible.

You gave me Squirt, and I learned to mother.  Then came the positive pregnancy test.  And the little boy that followed.  And then the sadness of those that didn’t follow.  I will always be grateful for you, you were grieving when I really couldn’t, when I had to avoid it.  And then came the Baby Hulk and the NICU.  And one more child in heaven, and Snax.  Then the year that sucked.  And another heartache until at last Baby Z arrived.  I hate to admit, but this past year has been kind of crappy.  Not because of us, but because sometimes luck just stinks.  I think that is an accurate description of this past year.  But we have lived it together and there is nothing better than that.  It didn’t drive us apart.

Here we are.  You and me and our five children.  It’s a great life.  It’s not always easy, but to be honest, it’s not as hard as I thought it would be.  Maybe that makes me naive.  But I think when you are with the person you are supposed to be with, it’s not so hard. You like being together.

And I like being with you.  Yes, I love having the kids around.  Maybe more than a lot of people.  But to me, they are extensions of you.  You have given me this amazing life I didn’t even know to hope for the day I said yes to your proposal.

Indeed, you are my life.  I have no fears that once the kids leave home, many, many, years from now, that you and I won’t know what to do with ourselves.  We were made for each other.

Happy Anniversary, my love.  You have my heart.  Always.  I cherish each year we have spent together and am excited for the years to come.

I can’t wait for next week.

Best decision ever…getting myself to BW3’s.