Four Years of Wedded Bliss

As of August 17, my hunky hubby and I have been married for four years. They have easily been the four best years of my life. Not the easiest--probably the hardest--except maybe middle school--middle school sucks. And yes, I see the apparent hypocrisy in that statement coming from a middle school teacher. But you should know that while I love my job teaching middle school, I did not enjoy being a middle school student. Not because of the school part, but because of the suckiness of early adolescence. I was (still am, to a certain extent) socially inept with a side order of cripplingly low self-esteem and shyness. So judge me not. Unless you're beautiful and have enough money (and probably older siblings) to wear all the right clothes and skip the awkward am-I-seriously-the-only-person-who-doesn't-know-that phase, middle school sucks. I am an expert because I lived it, and because I vicariously relive the experience and watch my students torture each other socially ten months out of the year. And because I've read Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret.

But that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about the second-hardest (but best) four years of my life--my marriage to Superman.

It hasn't been hard because I'm married. It's been hard because our honeymoon period lasted all of three months before I got all high-maintenance pregnant, dropped out of grad school because of that, had two high-maintenance babies, moved every year, and got for realsies started on my career. That's a lot of change in a little bit of time. But seriously...it was with Matt, so it was good.

This man is amazing. I could go on forever about the why and how, but I'm going to give you my top four (because of the four years thing).

1. Best. Dad. Ever. For a lady with my background, that's no small thing. I love to watch Matt parent. He plays with his kids, gets up with them in the middle of the night to feed, cuddle, calm, and love them, as well as clean up their vomit and administer breathing treatments and change diapers and sheets. This is a guy who seriously aches that he can't help more at night with feedings. So since I have to get up for all of those, he takes all the crappy night duties, like the crying and puking, so I can get those small snatches of sleep between feedings. Today (one of many such days) he's taken Ben out to run errands and play at the park so I can rest, bond with Emma, and maybe take a nap ('cause that whole "sleep when your baby sleeps" thing is a giant joke when you have older kids). Dad of the Year.

2. He's my best friend. We laugh, we play, we cry, we share...he's the best friend I've ever had, and it only gets better and better.

3. He's got a fan-friggin-tastic personality. He's funny, sweet, kind, generous, smart, and every other good thing there is. And a little bit crude sometimes. But I like that.

4. He's pretty sexy. I mean, have you seen that red hair? Dreamy.

Happy Anniversary, Baby! Thanks for an amazing four years, and a zillion more to come!