Celebrating four years together...

A few weeks ago I had lunch with my friend, Charlie, and he said to me “Who would have thought 10 years ago that this would be your life today?”
Of course, I was sitting across from him as a harried mother of two who had one kid clinging to me because she was sick and another one sulking because he had to sit in a high chair after a two-hour car ride.
It was certainly not one of the many entertaining lunches Charlie and I shared in the past when the only thing we had to worry about was how long we had before it was what we would choose off the menu and how much time we could chat before going back to work.
At that time I was a single working newspaper reporter who lived for the excitement and drama of a crime scene. I spent the majority of my time working or thinking about work and how I was going to get better at it.
If anyone would have told me that I would move to Arkansas and meet my wonderful husband, Pat, and be married a year later I would have told them they were crazy. Life like that happened to people in the movies and books and not to me.
But the funny thing is that just over four years ago my life did start moving at warp speed for me and it hasn’t stopped yet.
In April 2005, I moved to Arkansas to take a job at the state’s largest newspaper and met and married Pat just a year later. Savannah was born in May 2007 and Julius came along in February 2009.
During that time we’ve moved from Arkansas to Virginia, bought our first home together and traded our little Scion for a Dodge Grand Caravan. The only thing we don’t have is a dog and (no offense to you animal lovers) that is certainly OK with me.
I went from being a woman who wrote about other people’s lives to one who can’t find much alone time in my own. There are weeks when the only break from little voices I get is to when I go to the grocery store by myself and although there are other little kids around, you tend to tune out the ones you don’t raise in your house!
I have written all of this to celebrate Pat and all of the things he does to keep our little family afloat.
Pat gets up in the morning and makes our lunch and then heads into his job that has its own challenges. There are many weekends he does more than his share of the house work while I keep the children from dirtying up his efforts and just rest because I have an extra pair of eyes and hands to help.
In the hours between all of this he tries to make individual time for the three of us and I know he feels like it’s not enough, but I’m not sure there is ever enough time to be with the people you love the most.
Pat loves and accepts me for all of my quirks and crazy ways and has taught me that it is OK to take the passenger’s seat in life at times instead of having to always be in control. After growing up in a family of strong women, it’s nice to be able to have someone to lean on and not be the one who always carries the load.
I worry sometimes that I spend more time worrying about what will happen in our future and not enough time celebrating all of the wonderful accomplishments we have made in the present.
I certainly know I don’t thank him enough for his efforts so this is my way to celebrate him and our life together.
I love Pat much more today than I did when I married four years ago in that little chapel in Eureka Springs, AR. Together we have created two of the most precious little people in the world.
It can be a crazy life, but it’s one that I always hoped for and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I don’t know what the next year or four years will bring, but I hope it includes more time for our family to grow together and love each other. We might not be living at such warp-speed, but at some point us old folks have to rest… we can’t keep living like we’re 25!
Happy Anniversary Dear Hubby… I love ys very much.