Double Digits

Ten years ago today, Tom and I stood before friends and family and declared our love for each other. We promised to love, cherish and honor each other above all others.

We promised to care for each other in sickness and health and for richer and for poorer.

In the grand scheme of things, we’ve done pretty well. We weathered a 65 mile commute that pretty much had us under the same roof about three days a week for eight years.

We managed to survive the nightmare that was Olivia’s first six months of life when, as Tom put it, “We should be able to put her down for more than ten minutes without her screaming.”

There were some rough patches. I tell new moms with a smile not to make any decisions about their marriage/relationship during the first year of their baby’s life because things get better. They really do get better. But that first year? It’s tough. It’s tough on both parents and it’s tough on the relationship.

But we’ve weathered the birth of two children, the purchase of two houses, a brief stay in the NICU with a sick baby, the eventual diagnosis of a genetic disorder for that same sick baby. We’ve managed to get through therapies, IEP meetings, a sometimes surly but more often loving ten year old.

I have high hopes for us surviving two teenage girls and growing old together.

These days are the best ones yet. We laugh, we talk, we love.

We’re lucky and we’ve been very, very blessed. These things I know.