He and I.

Warning to the reader:  I'm going to try and dedicate my next few posts to my marriage and being a wife.  So if your stomach gets queasy when you watch a sickly sweet romantic movie with lots of extra cheesiness you may want to stop reading now.  You've been fairly warned!

My husband and I are about three weeks from our sixth wedding anniversary, and have been together for almost 13 years.  After what already seems like a lifetime I find myself taking stock of our life and marriage.  For example, I've reached the "old-age" of 30, Sophie is almost FIVE (what? already?), Molly is creeping into toddlerhood, we have a home, two cars, jobs, debt, bills, schedules, and all the other married adult stuff too.  All that stuff is just the window dressing though, so what do we really have?

We love each other, and I would say we like each other most of the time.  ;-)  We argue, but have learned to navigate our way through even the most heated "discussions".  We don't have much in common when it comes to hobbies (and never have), but we support each other and enjoy talking about each others interests.  We both love our children and love being with them.  Family time is a must for both of us!  We give advice to each other and do our best to help each other navigate work, parenting and family life.  We have date nights and love them.  We still cuddle, hold-hands, say goodnight with a kiss and "I love you" is part of our daily dialogue.  We have dreams, goals and memories.  We laugh together, cry, smile and tease.  We miss each other when we don't see each for a few days, and get sick of each other when we don't spend a minute apart.  We often hold hands when we fall asleep and enjoy being together (wink, wink) more than ever before.  I still think my husband is sweet, sexy and kind; while, he still pays me compliments and tells me he is proud of all that I do.  We can finish each other sentences, laugh at our ability to "read" each others' minds, and have our own married couple's language that includes "You know, the thing at the the place".  We are tired together and energized by each other.  We love quiet Sunday nights and sneaky PDAs.  We love lots of things and share even more.  Notice I say "we".

Our identities have become so entangled that sometimes it is hard to tell where he starts and I begin. That's the great thing about us though.  We are sort of like two different vines that grew up different sides of a wall, met at the top and continued to grow but in a big tangled mess.  We have different roots and little side shoots that go their own way, but one vine supports the other.  The higher the tangled mess grows the harder it is to imagine pulling apart, and so we stay comfortable, in love and forge our own way.  Good or bad?  I'm not sure, but we work hard each day to be who we are and to be together the way we are.  That's how I know all we have is worth it - because we are both willing to put effort into our marriage.  We work for it with energy and pride.  I couldn't ask for any thing more.  (Well, maybe a tropical, kid-free holiday but that too shall come! Right, honey???)