Happy Anniversary

My beloved and I celebrate 12 years of matrimony today.

I always find it interesting that I sometimes feel as if I’ve known Mr. Chili all my life – that we’ve never not been together – and sometimes I feel like our relationship is still brand new. We have a lovely dichotomy of settled and comfortable and new and surprising that makes me always glad that I said yes.

Here, then, are a dozen reasons why I’m glad I’m married to this guy:

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1. I get to laugh EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Literally, there’s not a day that’s gone by, in the almost-17 years we’ve been together, that he’s not said something that cracks me up. Sometimes, he’ll say something that’s funny to everyone in the room; sometimes, I’m the only one who “gets it,” but I’m guaranteed a chuckle every day. It keeps me coming back for more.

2. My husband is literally my best friend. Sure, I’ve got other best friends, but none of them comes close to the bond I share with Mr. Chili. He knows everything, and he loves me anyway. He fights fair. He makes allowances for my weirdness because he knows where it comes from. He steps in where I fall short and lets me fill in where he’s lacking. We make a great team.

3. He is what people call a decent man. He is kind and thoughtful. He’s practical and reliable. He’s honest and ethical. I’m proud of the man he is, and proud that he chose me to share in his life.

4. He makes a mean cheese souffle, he knows how to work the grill, the vacuum and the washing machine, and he keeps my computer in tip-top shape.

5. Mr. Chili has supernatural vacation planning abilities. He’s an AWESOME travel planner, he finds AMAZING deals on GORGEOUS apartments, and he makes sure that everything is in place before we leave so that we can have a smooth and stress-free vacation. Sometimes I give him shit about his fussy attention to detail, but I wouldn’t have him change a thing: I love going away with this guy, whether we’re having a weekend away, going on a family vacation, or spending a week at the lake with his parents (more on THAT later, y’all…)

6. We have nearly identical taste in movies and television, though not always in music (I tend to like my music a bit more rockin’ than he does, and at louder volume, too…). I adore that we come up with the same movie quotes in certain circumstances.

7. He is, as I mentioned on Father’s Day, an outstanding daddy. Really, there’s nothing about his parenting of our daughters that I would change. I’m sometimes a little jealous of my girls for lucking out in the Daddy Department.

8. He encourages me to keep growing and changing, and creates the environments I need in order to do that. He did full-time, single parenting (NOT babysitting!) duties for ten weekends while I did the Yoga National Guard thing. He’s going to do full-time, single parenting duties while I’m away at the fellowship in two weeks. He’s fully supportive of my desire to go back to school. He recognizes that I’m happiest when I’m thinking and learning and growing, and he does everything he can to see that I have every chance to do it.

9. He is a good friend. He will be the first to admit that he doesn’t have many friends, but he cares deeply for the ones he’s got. I love watching him interact with the people he cares about, and seeing him have a good time outside of the boundaries of our little family thrills me. He’ll do just about anything for Dudley, Bobo or Bowyer, and for as much as I’m greedy with my share of his time and attention, I like it when he’s enjoying time with his friends.

10. He’s got his priorities in order. His family comes first – we are what’s most important to him; no questions, qualifications, or exceptions. He checks in on his parents regularly and will step right into whatever caretaker role they may need of him (us) as time progresses. He cares for his friends. He’s careful and focused on his work. Everything else is just noise in the data.

11. He may well be the smartest person I know. I’m in awe of the work that he does, and of the thinking that he is capable of. He’ll tell you that he’s just a regular guy, but I’M telling you that he’s WICKED smaht. He is, to put it in terms we’d use, a “steely-eyed missile man.”

12. This last category is reserved for all the private things that make up a marriage. I love Mr. Chili for a million little reasons that I, regardless of my skill with manipulating language, could never adequately express, and wouldn’t even if I could. We fit, he and I, and there really aren’t words that are up the task of doing justice to that. You’re just going to have trust me on this.