Sweet Valentine

I know, I know, Valentine's is over, done with all the mushy stuff, yada, yada. But I've been thinking a lot lately about my marriage and in general I've been a giant slush-gob of mush for my man. In the past month, we've had a slew of good news between my book deal and his acceptance into several PhD programs of his choice, and it's been so strange to be able to get to know each other during GOOD times, you know?

Staying together during hard times, difficult sh#%y times? We've got that part down pat. We got married when I was 19 and he was 21, so the first time either of us was on our own paying rent and bills, it was together. I distinctly remember the year I was in a wheelchair and we were living in Chicago, where in all the crappy 4-story apartments there are no elevators... and we lived on the third floor. So everyday the husband would push/pull/carry me up the stairs or I would crawl miserably up them with him by my side encouraging me, it usually took about 15 min to get up those goddamned stairs either way. So yeah. That was a pleasant time.

We've been married 9 years now and have changed A TON, but luckily, we've been able to change together. Even as we were morphing as individuals, we were careful to make sure we stayed compatible, even as I went from a tight-knit conservative to a raging liberal, even as we became parents, got jobs, went back to school, changed our future goals about twenty times. It seems rare, but maybe it's not. Even in the bad times, he's easily hands-down always been my best friend. So yep, gotta say it's been nice to be able to pop out the champagne over the last month, get good news upon good news, plan out our future as partners, and get to know each other in joyful times too :)