Twenty Years

You know when you meet someone and just know that you two are meant to be?  That it is love at first sight? This is not that.

When these two twenty-somethings met on May 2, 1998. TWENTY YEARS AGO today *insert “land sakes” or a “gracious me” in there* It was a not a storybook romance.  There was no meet cute. Just an “Oh, it’s you.” at the start of our blind date.  I might have hissed at my friend that I could not see spending a whole evening in my cute LBD with this guy as my date.  He may have insulted me because my attitude wasn’t sweet but came with a bite.

Sigma Kappa Spring Formal, May 2, 1998

Fast forward through that lovely movie montage of us getting married in Vegas, making a few moves around the country as we get a dog, have three kids, realize we need marriage counseling after those three kids and a few career changes and come out the other side. High fives all around because truthfully that’s not the typical outcome.

Guess what?  There were more changes because that’s how life rolls.  This year alone we have made more career changes, lost a beloved furry family member and I have been sick for the last seven months in a way that has forced us to develop a new way of life for our whole family.  The toll on our personal relationship made us both stronger in some ways but weakened other areas.  It’s time for a tune-up and that is OK.  It’s more than OK, it’s great.  We are seeing things for what they really are and still loving each other after twenty years of real life. A real life that has had a whole lot of ups and downs. It’s not always Facebook beautiful, am I right?

When movie dorks meet and marry.  So many of my favorite memories of us as a couple involve television and film. The Karate Kid

Second date? ‘The Game‘.  Third date? ‘The Big Lebowski’.  Fourth date? As Good As It Gets. In between that, we watched When Harry Met Sally over the phone. Then, he took me to see one of my all-time favorite films, ‘Gone with the Wind‘ in an old theater. I was pretty hooked by then. It was then that I knew I wanted to marry this guy.

Today, as we look back on the many moments since we first literally and figuratively opened the door to our relationship and the rest of our lives, I see so much beauty. There is so much love.  It’s not perfect but neither are we.  It’s messy, beautiful, full of fire and drama and so many laughs (so many movies) and the feeling that I’m so glad I was myself and he was himself that first night.  If we hadn’t been it would have been just another failed, boring blind date. If we hadn’t been real from that first moment none of this would have happened.

Today, not just because we are celebrating twenty years of love, friendship, and laughter, but because I’m so glad we found each other and have embraced the life we have as a couple and family.  Here’s to TWENTY YEARS!  Here’s to many more adventures and movies, of course.  I love you, H!

PWAR Gala, April 2018.

Twenty Years of Fashion