.Anniversary...Or Another Year With the Ball and Chain #love #years

Do you have a happy marriage? Look across the table at the man or woman there. Can you see yourself still together in 20 or 50 years? Are they the "old ball and chain" or more colorful adjectives?


Today is my anniversary. A day to celebrate marriage. The tying together of two people, two families. Eight years ago, Mark and I were in Vegas for a combined wedding and honeymoon. In Nevada, you don't need to wait for a marriage license so many people marry in the neon-mecca. As a second wedding, we didn't want the hoopla.

After eight years, you'd think being married would be easy. We'd have it all down pact. Even more so for us, we'd been married before. Mark and I had both been married before for 15 and 20 years respectively. We don't give up and know how to make a marriage work. Yet, we still find that it is work at times. On some days, Mark gives 80% and I'm giving 20% and other days it's a different percentage. We have moments of unhappiness, although it's usually centered around communication issues. I hear one thing and think it means something else. Remarkably, I haven't learned how to mind read yet. :)

But I'm very lucky. I CAN say that I have my best friend for my husband. It's our friendship that helps us with those troubled times. In fact, he knows me better than I know myself. For example, he knew that my tattoos symbolize deep painful times. And just the other day, we are thinking the same thing at the same time. We "get" each other, our quirks, our scars, and our goofy ways...non-judgmentally. Yet I do know he always has my back.

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Today was my anniversary and Mark is camping with a group of Boy Scouts for the weekend in a remote location. I miss him but we already have our own celebration planned when he gets back. So since, he's in radio silence for the weekend and I love to write, I'm sharing my feelings and thoughts here with all of you (and to him when he gets home).


Mark, you are the first person I tell a secret to and the only man who thinks I'm cute with red eyes from bawling like a girl after watching PS. I Love You. You sit next to me in all the Marvel movies where I celebrate my "geekdom" and have even found a passion for reading that matches mine. I wouldn't want to be with anyone else on this crazy ride called life. Happy Anniversary and may there be a billion more years and memories made together. I love you, Mr. Keir!

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