9 Years of Marital ________

Today is our ninth wedding anniversary! I can't believe that we are even old enough to say that. I only think of myself as 22 or 25 max. Oh well, at least it has been a great 9 years. It has been 13 years since we started dating on Friday the 13th of December in 1996. See? Good things can happen on Friday the 13th! One high school Christmas dance got the ball rolling.

Last night when we went to bed after getting Josiah to fall back asleep after waking up screaming, I asked Jacob to fill in the blank: 9 years of marital ______. It was kind of a trick question, but don't worry, he passed. I didn't know if he would try to make a joke or be too sappy in order to punish me for asking. However, he gave me a nice serious answer saying "fulfillment". When I asked him what he meant, he just said we have fulfilled so many of the dreams we started out with early on. I thought this was sweet, accurate, and a little funny seeing as how I was a half hour late coming to bed because of one of those little fulfilled dreams. Ironically, that little dream woke up screaming again right when we were both in a deep sleep an hour later. (FYI: that is not his norm, I think he is sick again.)

This year has brought so many changes, both positive and negative, as we have experienced the birth of a baby, job loss, another job search, and several other things mixed in there. I'll admit there were (and probably still will be) times that I have wondered if we would forget who we were as a couple, but each time I saw us emerge as an improved version of the "old us" and was encouraged. While we still hold out hope for some of the aspects of our life to change soon, overall we couldn't be happier with who we have become or the little family we have now grown into.

So Jacob, while I'm happy you are recognizing the fulfillment of our dreams, I hope you aren't feeling TOO fulfilled, because we have a lot more to look forward to! Like chocolate and cheese at the Melting Pot tonight.