The 11th

I can't remember my 11th anniversary very well. For someone like my parents (40 years married) that is not saying much, but my 11th was last Saturday.

I know that we got up with the kids, I know Addie wasn't feeling well and I took her to the walk-in clinic. I know that Jeremy took Elspeth for a bike ride while Adwen napped. I know that at one point I remembered it was our anniversary and I started at the thought because it felt so un-anniversary like.

Jeremy made up a lame excuse at one point to get out of the house and buy me tulips (my favorite flower).

I liked that part.

Other than that, March 22 was not marked by anything out of the ordinary. Most people feel a little sorry for us that we don't celebrate our anniversaries with big fanfare, but the reality is that out of the ordinary is not a synonym for special. I feel like every day is special with Jeremy, I am honestly more grateful that he let me sleep until 8 am on Easter morning than if we had gone out to dinner on our anniversary.

I appreciate that when my daughter says the meanest thing she knows how to say to me (Mommy, you go away), my husband will firmly tell her that she is not to disrespect me, EVER. I am grateful that he would never treat me with disrespect, or take my presence in his life for granted.

I love the sound of my husband and elder child playing in the bath while I clean up after dinner. Their combined level of goofiness far exceeds what I expected in my life, and thrills me daily. I love the quiet way he reaches for Adwen when she tires of being stuck on the floor, and the smile he can put on her face just by talking to her.

Each moment of our lives together means more to me than I could have imagined and it is the developing every dayness of our lives that I truly cherish. When we are old and rocking quietly together in the "home" it will not be the random wining and dining on special occasions that will be our topic of conversation. We will remember together about playing soccer then racquetball when we moved to the midwest. And how the place we liked the least to live, has become the most our home; through all the wonderful people we have met, and by bringing two amazing kids into the world. We will remember Elspeth's laugh and Addie's smiles and how no family video is lacking a dog whining in the background or walking through the foreground.

We will not say "remember our 11th anniversary?" We will say "remember the day Adwen finally started crawling?"(which happens to be the same day).

Saturday was our 11th anniversary, but who is counting years when each day is a gift.