8 Thoughts on 8 Years

1. Eight years together is a long time, but it's also a short time. Confusing, I know. It seems like I blinked and we went from just married kids with a dog to parents with four children. But at the same time, it feels like we've been together forever. Not in a bad way, but in a way where I can't even remember what life was like before we were apart.

2. You just cannot change some habits (whistling), even though you try (leaving drawers open). So you eventually learn to just sigh audibly and fix the problems (putting armrest up in car) yourself.

3. Once the children outnumber you, a new spousal bond emerges. You may have thought you were a team before, but this is different. This is hard core, life and death. It's like Wipe Out meets Family Feud and Al Roker is constantly screaming at you to "Name the most popular response!" while you teeter precariously on the edge of a foam covered platform above a sea of mud and shaving cream. Team Parent may be outnumbered and lose a battle or two, but they WILL win the war.

4. No matter how hard you try, he will not take your fashion advice. Just buy the things you want him to wear yourself. If you have a man who hates shopping, he'll have to wear them because he won't return them himself.

5. I often see kids adults who are the same age we were when we got married and marvel at how young and juvenile they seem, and then I stop and think that we couldn't have been like that ... except I know we were.

6. It's not fair that a man's body doesn't reap the extended "benefits" of pregnancy that the woman's body does. And it's not fair that metabolism decreases as the years of marriage increase.

7. You will never feel more love than when you watch your husband interact and play with your children. It's like watching your heart and soul dancing together and laughing until their sides hurt.

8. Time strengthens bonds, but only if you give in to the struggle. Digging a trench takes time, but if you put your head down, do the work, laugh, and love, before you know it you're in deep enough that nothing can hurt you. DIG DEEP!

Happy 8 year anniversary to the best man I've ever known! I can't wait to dig a few more trenches over the decades to come.

One year anniversary babies adults ...