Lanterns

To my sweet Merilee,

Happy 4th anniversary! Can you believe that it's been four years? As we head into our second of what will be many presidential terms, I reflect on our beginnings. Recall when I asked you out for the first time:

"Hey Merilee, can I ask you a question?"

"Yes..."

"Do you like babies?"

You didn't know how weird I was. Though you definitely have a better idea now, you probably still don't know how weird I am. I had been observing you - not in a creepy way. I just knew you'd appreciate an awkward situation. To prove my point, aren't you writing a book about these kinds of things?

You took a step back.

"Yes..."

I took a step forward to close the distance you had created.

"Well then I have a proposition for you."

At this point, I'd accomplished my primary objective of giving you a weird story to tell your family (and of being obnoxious). My secondary objective was to ask you out on a date. I wasn't nervous because I was having so much fun.

"Do you want to help me babysit my niece and nephew? I'll take you out for ice cream after to make it worth your time."

You said yes, and I'm so grateful that you did. I don't remember much of what we did with the kids. What I do remember about that summer night is sitting for who knows how long out in front of the movie theater eating froyo and talking. You were so easy to talk to (you still are).

Thanks for loving babies.

Thanks for eating ice cream
at an incredibly slow rate. It
gives us plenty of time to talk
after I've already slammed
mine down.

Fast forward five years, and you still love babies. Seeing who we are today, it's hard for me to believe that I didn't always know. I didn't know while shoving cookie dough and cheesecake bites into my mouth that I was sitting with my future wife, or talking with the mother of my children. I didn't know then that you would make me this happy. I didn't know I could be this happy.

But I guess things rarely turn out how you expect or want them to - which is a good thing in many cases. My idea of dating when I was younger was based on what always seemed to happen in movies and shows which depicted friends falling in love after knowing each other for a long time. The result was that I never liked the idea of trying to find a partner through the "normal" dating process, and was too terrified to even ask any girls out until I got setup on a blind date after my mission.

Thanks for calling her Cordelia

I also try to remember what I imagined or dreamed my future wife and family would look or be like, but I can't. That's partly because they didn't exist, but I also know that, whatever I had imagined, I couldn't have imagined or expected anything more perfect for me than what I now have. 

Does that make any sense? I've become convinced that we ourselves often don't know what we need (or even want) in life until God shows us his plan or it just happens. I didn't start putting things together regarding you and me until I became your home teacher and started spending more time with you. Even then, if we hadn't broken up for a month, I don't know if I ever would have had the courage to get married. It took a lot of pain to realize how much I wanted a life with you. Isn't that crazy to think about now?

Four years and we've had what I'm sure we feel is more than our fair share of trials. But I would argue that we could say the same about our blessings. Thank you for being my partner through the good and the bad. Whenever I need to look around and count my blessings, I never have to look far. Thank you for loving me through our journey of infertility. You and I both know that not everyone is so accepting of mutants and I'm sure if that had ever worked out, I would be a divorcee right now. Thank you for bearing and nurturing our two children. You did an amazing job and they are so precious and I'm so excited to raise them with you. I could go on and on until the interwebs ran out of space, but let me finally just say: thank you for being my new dream.

Happy four years to us! I love you to the moon and back (but don't worry, I won't ever actually go to space).

Thanks for holding my hands during this

Thanks for crying because

of how cute our babies are.

Thanks for holding all of

this inside of you for

8 months.

Thanks for being such a

great mother to our babes.

Thanks for embracing my dreams.

Thanks for letting me kiss you.

Thanks for being so cute

Thanks for letting me bury you in foliage  

Thanks for not letting me wear this
shirt with my plaid shorts.

Thanks for climbing in and out of my lowered car
while we were dating.

Thanks for letting me be myself with you.

Thanks for laughing with me and
making me smile all of the time.

Thanks for having long beautiful hair forever.

Thanks for being addicted to Boston Cream Pie.

Thanks for being so excited to be
married to me.

Thanks for making me grow a
mustache that one time then making
fun of me for it so I never
do it again.

Thanks for appreciating my attempt at making
turtles even though they kind of ended up being
enormous fistfuls of chocolate.

Thanks for being so fancy.

Thanks for being my Bengal Tiger

Thank you for giving me the rest
of your life and eternity.