Nine crazy years with this kid

Nine years ago, we said ‘I do.’

‘I do’ to being best friends.

To love that grows and strengthens and deepens.

To inside jokes and deep belly laughs.

To growing up and growing old together.

To holding hands and sharing dreams.

To arguing over silly stuff like why the ending of Lost was perfect and not at all an easy out for the writers (glad we finally agree on that, cough cough).

To fighting, the loud kind, because we both lay our hearts on the line.

To making up with words and kisses and hugs, and forgiving.

To sharing lazy mornings over the french press and talking about any and everything.

To crazy, rushed mornings where we’re both running late but we always kiss good-bye.

To puppy training and dog walking and snuggles on the couch.

To talking to our dogs in the most ridiculous of voices and thinking we could totally make a cartoon out of this.

To loving Taco until our very last good-bye and grieving together.

To old jazz records and singing as loud as we can in the kitchen, making up words as we go.

To house-buying and painting and moving furniture – and then moving it again.

To kitchen remodeling and listening to audiobooks late into the night.

To you doubting and me believing.

To me doubting and you believing.

To Southport summers and Pennsylvania winters. To adventures in between.

To leaking washing machines and flat tires and lost keys.

To late night studying and copious amounts of coffee.

To graduations and new jobs and more school.

To rough patches and questions.

To growing closer. To daydreaming and naming pretend kids who live in our pretend house.

To tailgates and football and Happy Valley.

To travels near and far, and an adventurous spirit.

To cozy nights, curled up on the couch, watching old British detective shows while the snow falls outside.

To for sale signs and taxes and laundry.

To amazing dinners where we lose all track of time, just talking.

To takeout from our favorite Indian restaurant after long, hard days of working late.

To gardens and farmer markets and cooking together.

To me stopping to photograph every.single.thing and you waiting.

To you stopping to read every museum sign and me waiting.

To ice cream just because and birthdays and family gatherings.

To accidentally driving to Ikea in a blizzard (I swear….I checked the forecast!) and trying to interpret the mysterious pictogram instructions that come with all Ikea furniture.

To crazy risks and taking chances.

To failing.

To succeeding.

To sharing God’s grace.

To choosing each other, for always.

We’ve lived a lifetime since we walked out of that little chapel and greeted the world as Mr. & Mrs. We were kids, naive and young and exploding with hope.

Here we are, nine years later, and I am so grateful that we were blessed with the chance to start our lives together so early, to be able to share so much of this scary, beautiful journey hand in hand.

Our story is still being written … and I have a feeling we’re just getting to the good part.

love you chief.