To my Husband on our anniversary:
Sometimes I look at the years we have been married & think we have only been married such a short time, & others think it seems like ages.
We have been thru so so much in such a short time.

 I am a card person, & I normally spend hours, & I mean it in hallmark looking for the perfect card for us during that year. & usually I do. I mean I don't want to be biased but I am a pretty badass card picker-outer. But this year I knew I couldn't find one for what we had been thru this year. So I am writing you my own.


There are a few things I think my husband and well every husband needs to hear.

First, I appreciate you.
You have never once called in and went in to work just dreadfully sick and worked long hours & because of that turned around and came home to a less than pleasant overwhelmed wife. In the good, bad and ugly of our marriage to date, I have never doubted your ability to do all that you can to provide for our family. I appreciate every late night, early morning and no days off.


I love the parent you are.
You put on tiaras & paint your nails. You swing the girls for hours & don't completely think I am batty when I decide to put up a tent in the playroom. You love doing every activity {which is a lot} that I have planned for us. Ice cream, movie, the zoo & swimming all in one day, all on your one day off? You don't flinch. You get up, & your right there "in the moment" with our girls; put them to bed, go to bed late only to wake up early to get the work the next day. You never say no, well most the time. Even when you probably should.  I love that when we are out with just us, or other people. You talk about them. & really talk about them. Their personalities & the things they do. It makes my hear swell so so big.


For all the stuff You do, that I won't.
You've killed your share of bugs, changed a particularly poopy diaper that included up the back to neck disasters. You've been awaken by your fearful wife & a few times even without a grumble gone & checked down stairs for what is obviously a burglar coming to kill us, luckily there has yet to be one, but hey a wife can never be to sure. You've finish my projects when I get bored. & and ordered a embarrassing amount of pizza for me. All of that I am grateful for.

I still want you.
When most people start to fizzle out, I find myself wanting you more than the day we said I do. We have trudged thru a painful journey to parenthood, with hormones & downright crazy behavior as a side effect. Having two children very close in age, that has no doubt made my mommy middle & appearance less than appealing, &  I am sure made this feeling less than mutual. Always know that as the wise woman Shania Twain once said "your still the one".


Mostly, Thank you for being there  I know that you’re not perfect. You might read this and think of all the things you’re not, but in a fatherless culture,  and a society of broken marriages, you have stayed. When our marriage nearly ended, you fought to stay. When we got on the roller coaster ride of parenting, you dug in your heels. You are here and most days, even when we have no idea what we’re doing, you never leave. And that’s enough every day.


I love you so much.
Happy Anniversary.