Anniversary

Paul and my anniversary is this Sunday. Just in case you don't know, he is the tall guy in the Huskers jacket. He loves this jacket because it is Nebraska, but it also has a huge front pocket that he calls his marsupial pouch. Seriously, you could fit a small child in there, but he mostly squirrels away bits of paper and dry erase markers.

I digress...I have been married to this wonderful man for 13 years on Sunday. In honor of that, here are 13 good memories of our years together. Ok...make that 14 because I am starting with the wedding.

1996: Being the ultimate camp master on our honeymoon. Yes, he took me tent camping, but he cooked and scared the horses away that tried to trample our tent. We still laugh about hearing thoses horses right by our head.

1997: We moved to Kentucky. Our TV only picked up one station and only at night. It played Nightline all evening every evening. So, we played Yahtzee...hours and hours of Yahtzee. We laughed all the time, and still have our secret Yahtzee code from that time.

1998: Carpooling. We drove together to Lexington and then Paul would drop me off. I loved that hour in a car just the two of us every day. We just talked and talked.

1999: I had really rough time after our first miscarriage. Paul whisked me to Florida in a very spontaneous move. I will always remember that sitting on a beach praying with my husband probably saved my faith.

2000: Our first real vacation together. We went to Williamsburg. Paul pretended that our umbrella was his musket. Now we joke about being prepared for anything as long as you have a musket. He also knew that I had always wanted to walk on the beach in a flowy dress, so he bought me one before our trip.

2001: Our son was born. I remember that Paul would go cook at the neighbor's because the fumes made me so sick. That is true love.

2002: When Paul interviewed for our first church, he made sure that I got to define my roll. He made sure that the Church board was fine with the roll, or he wouldn't take the job. What an attentive husband.

2003: This is the year that holds the one and only time I could have really killed my husband. I got home from shopping and he had our 2 year old on the roof. I remained calm. He did not see the problem. However, this event brought about the quote that gets used a lot in our house. In fact, if our son doesn't hear it after he gets in trouble, he asks why we didn't say "And, what have you learned from this situation?" By the way, Paul still maintains it was perfectly safe because he was the one cleaning the gutters and Wildcat was higher than him.

2004: Paul was a Stay at Home Dad, so I could work my dream job at the Crisis Pregnancy Center. I am forever grateful that he held our family value of no daycare so close to his heart that he was willing to take on a non-traditional role. Also, he so kindly encouraged me to go for my dream.

2005: My migraines got really bad in this year. Paul would often bring me a Coke with ice while I was at work just to ease the pain.

2006: Paul is not a gifts person (I am). However, when we went on our anniversary trip to Florida, he had a gift for each day we were there with a letter expressing the symbolism of each gift as well as his love. This required a lot of forethought and planning. I felt so loved.

2007: Paul had to act as a single parent plus. I was so sick with my pregnancy I was on bedrest. He ran the household, took care of the kids, plus took care of me. He changed IV bags, wrangled with insurance, took me to the hospital, slept at the hospital, cleaned puke buckets and gave me an infinite number of miniscule servings of lemonade and mashed potatoes.

2008: Kapooka's birth happened so quickly that we both were in shock. Paul knew that I regretted not getting a belly shot while I was pregnant with Jonathan just before delivery. So in our bewildered and shocked state, Paul stopped the gurney on the way to the operating room and made everyone wait until he took a picture of me. He said "This is important to my wife so stop". Of course I was on the gurney already dressed for surgery, and you can't see much of my belly, but I loved that moment.

2009: Paul has been so encouraging to me this year as I transition back to being a Stay at Home mom. He has even been willing to talk about "girlie stuff" when I need to. I appreciate his support because so much of being a mom is unseen, but he makes sure to see and praise.

I love my hubby!