Happy 7th Anniversary

"...I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life." I had such big plans for this post. A manifesto...if you will...of our love, our marriage.

Then I came home on Monday from a fabulous weekend away with my better half to two sick babies, and not much else mattered or happened. There is nothing more I despise in life than my babies being sick. It hurts my heart and my soul. And so I did two of the three things I know how to do best in the world: be a mommy and be a nurse (and FYI: the third thing is being a wife). Now countless days of sleepless nights later, my mind is mush and words fail me. So forgive me, my love, for this shortcut but know that my intentions were pure. It's this crazy thing called LIFE that interrupted my best of intentions. Instead of some beautiful prophetic prose, here are some random, but oh so truthful, thoughts:

(Notice: This disclaimer serves as a warning to some serious sappiness in the following paragraph. Please avoid if you are the Tin man and have no heart, or if heart-felt words make you queazy. I do not in anyway apologize for the following...quite the contrary. However, you have been warned!)

Seven years of marriage, and fourteen years of togetherness.

Our engagement picture

Your love has completed me. I often look at you and wonder how I got so lucky. What did I ever do, or who do I owe for this blessing of your love and constant devotion to me? When I walked down that aisle in that beautiful cathedral, surrounded by our closest family and friends, there was not a doubt in my mind that you were THE ONE. I never wavered, and I never will.

I am eternally grateful to you for inviting me to join you on this amazing journey. As with any journey, there are moments of ecstasy and despair, sheer terror and peace, boredom and excitement, mundane and exotic. And I am with you through all of it...the good, the bad, and the ugly. You are my teammate, my partner in life, my helpmate, my lifemate, my best friend...and there is no one else I would rather experience all of life's awesomeness with, than with you. Your happiness and love of life is contagious and I am a more fulfilled and happier person because of you. Thank you for personifying our love and making it tangible through the two beautiful children you have given to me. They are our greatest masterpiece. Your love, patience, kindness and devotion to them, literally, takes my breath away. They will become good, loving, patient, christian men and women because of your example...and I could not ask for anything more than that. Thank you, Steven, for choosing me, us. Thank you, for Our Life.... And just in case you were wondering....the song that you have been listening to is the song we danced to at our wedding reception...it is our song. And I love it. It is Con te Partiro, by Andrea Bocelli, which translates to, "I'll go with you". Seven years of marriage, and fourteen years of togetherness. Yes, I'll go with you. Happy Anniversary, my love. Here is to a lifetime of happily ever afters....Salute!