Today Is My Anniversary

I met my husband almost six years ago at a picnic for Single Volunteers of the Twin Cities. He sat down from me and smiled at me almost constantly, then followed me around as I helped pick up trash and asked for my phone number. He also offered to teach me to swing dance, and I like to tease him that I still haven't really learned. (We do go swing dancing, but I lack my husband's natural rhythm).

It took us a while to realize we wanted to spend our lives together, and the first time we dated it lasted only a few months. Then we stayed friends, and regularly updated each other on our dating. We agreed that internet dating was a horror. He moved to Boise for work; I stayed in the Twin Cities. He called and told me there was no culture in Boise; I said "come visit."

So he came to visit and we had a wonderful time. We went to the theater and to a jazz club. I started to commute to see him in Boise. Since I worked for an airline I could do this. Each time I left it seemed harder and harder to go. Work was stressful and didn't bring me a lot of joy.

I moved to Boise. We got married in North Carolina at a wonderful goat farm / bed & breakfast. We had a swing band and wonderful caterers. We spent the day with family and friends and had our nieces and nephews walk us down the aisle. A goat apparently dropped in just before the ceremony, but we didn't see that. It was a perfect day.

We wanted children and I was 37 1/2, so we thought "let's try, it will take six months to actually conceive." It didn't.

A friend of mine said "when you have kids you really find out what your relationship is." Having kids has made me realize how truly lucky I am to have found such a wonderful man. We have to put a lot of work in to communicating and letting each other know what to expect. Some days we do better than others. But we have such trust in each other; trust I didn't know you could have with another person.

I wish I had the words to say how I feel. I just know it is much more than I felt three years ago, and it is so nice to have a relationship that grows and evolves. Happy anniversary honey. I'd marry you again in a heartbeat.