This One Goes to Eleven
...and beyond, of course.Tonight marks eleven years since Christian Ready and I became husband and wife (not man and wife, because he was already a man when I married him, if you know what I mean--bow chicka bow!).
I can best characterize our marriage by telling a little anecdote we recounted over the breakfast table this morning. A few years ago we went to a friend's wedding where the officiant went on for several minutes about how much work is involved in marriage. This guy made it sound as if marital fulfillment was a Sisyphean chore, never complete, like weeding the garden or cleaning the kitchen sink.
We looked at each other during the sermon and realized we were missing some essential piece of life that seemed so obvious to everyone else. We were so busy having fun and making each other happy, we forgot to work at it, forgot to put "love each other" on our to-do list.
Now you may shake your head and go, "Jeri Jeri Jeri, just wait until you hit hard times, then you'll realize how much work marriage really is." Well, we've had hard times. What Hamlet called "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" have hit us as sharply as anyone else. Deaths, layoffs, medical problems, wet sock feet from puddles outside the shower--you name it, we've been through it.
Life hasn't always been easy. But being together sure is.
Oh, and I don't mean to sound smug. Just impossibly, ecstatically grateful.
Honey, I hope this counts as a card, because I forgot to pick one up last night. Pretend there's a teddy bear or something at the top of the post. Love ya!
