Six Years of Marriage

Yesterday marked our sixth wedding anniversary and ninth "dating" anniversary--yes, it is the same day.  After such a busy weekend between our pool party for Jack and my niece's seventh birthday pool party at my parents' house, I was looking forward to just relaxing.  And it always rains on June 3rd and has for the past eight years (with the exception of maybe last year, I think), so I knew I could count on it.

We took it easy.  We did work in the morning and afternoon.  Then we went to the mall to buy Eliot some new "basketball shoes".  He was so excited and kept talking about it all morning.  You may remember that the last time I took him to the mall, he had terrible tantrums over and over the entire the time.  That was a few months ago, so I was pretty nervous.  He's like a completely different kid now.  He didn't throw one fit, even when we left the toy store without buying anything.  In fact, we don't eat at restaurants anymore because he just can't handle sitting still, so when we got a couple of sandwiches to eat at the food court, of course he wanted to walk around and look at everything.  I whispered to him, "Do you want basketball shoes?"  "Yes!" he said.  "Ok, then you have to wait.  We need to eat and then we'll get you basketball shoes.  But you have to wait."  He sat in my lap and cuddled up with my arm.  Whaaat?  It was amazing.  And when we did take him to the shoe store, he wanted them all, but was fine when we just selected one pair.  I think Chris wanted them all too.  In the end, it was a pretty awesome, peaceful trip to the mall.  I feel like I'm getting bits of my life back.

After the mall, we came home so Eliot could play basketball with Chris.  I did some work, we watched a couple of movies, and Chris gave me these pink gerber daisies (like from our wedding) in a vase that was used as a center piece at our reception.  And of course my monthly frap.  And after giving Eliot a bath, it was time for bed.  A perfectly simple, relaxing day was just what I needed.

When Chris and I were dating, it felt like it had been forever.  Everyone else we knew back home was getting married after a much shorter dating period.  Three years seemed like a lot, but we did start dating right before I graduated from high school (like, a week), so we waited until we graduated from college.  Now, though, we have been married for twice as long as we dated.  That blows my mind.  Chris and I have been together for a long time, and though I can't imagine life without him, it seems a bit shorter than nine years.  That's a third of my life!

I post this picture pretty much every year.  And maybe I will forever.  I love it.  And it makes the rain worth it (we were supposed to get married outside in a garden until Tropical Storm Barry came through).

Photo by Natchez Fotography

This time last year, I wrote an entry summing up our first five years of marriage.  It hadn't always been easy as we tried to make it through grad school and find jobs during a recession, but we did it together.  In fact, on that day when I wrote that entry even, I was in the process of miscarrying.  Last year was a hard, hard year for us.  We had numerous health (and mental health) issues with family members.  So many hospitalizations.  We had trouble selling our house, which sat on the market for eight months.  All of the distractions and stresses made my dissertation feel stagnant.  I felt behind.  I felt overwhelmed.  I felt stuck in so many ways.  However, we kept in mind that we were on eachother's team, and things slowly got better.  As we are stepping out of year five and into year six, I am hoping that those issues are behind us all the way now.  Our family members are at a stable place.  We have been in our new home for five months.  We are expecting our baby boy in a few weeks.  I am making real, solid progress with my dissertation.  And our jobs are better than ever.  I know there will be ups and downs in life, of course, but I think we have made it beyond that hard season--and I am thankful.  And no matter what rains (and tropical storms...) come our way, we have eachother.

Our fifth wedding anniversary photo from last year

Photo by Anne Ryan Dempsey