17 years of pure bliss

 Hub's and I celebrated our 17 year wedding anniversary last night. 17 years of pure bliss.....yes I laughed out loud when I wrote that. My sister posted this picture of us on facebook last time she was in town. It got a lot of comments and laughs. I wasn't laughing. I was thinking Holy shit Hubs has hair and I have a perfect waistline. Looking at this reminds me we were young once upon a time in a far, far, away land. The land of big hair, half shirts, banana clips, pagers, and those awesome vest. Oh yes and the land of a perfect waistline. Not a worry in the world. Back then we had big hopes. We wanted to get married, have a perfect relationship, have perfect children, pink was on my mind, blue on his, and buy the perfect house. We had no idea what we were in store for. Sometimes I wonder if my future would have flashed before me right before I walked down the aisle what I would have done. I would have run like hell screaming in terror. No joke, thank God that your life only flashes before you at death. I laughed when I wrote that too. Thinking sometimes marriage had felt like death. We got married obviously, bought the house, and had not one but three boys. The only pink in my future was pink lip gloss. When we were imagining and talking about our future plans. We did not really have a clear picture of how it would be. We were still thinking it would be pretty perfect and easy. We had no idea it would be hard and messy at times. Young and dumb comes to mind for sure. Who knew in a marriage there would be late night fights, hurt feelings, talks of breakups, and disappointments. Thank God we always seem to make up in the end. Who knew with buying a first home we would give up a honeymoon and be buried in bills and taxes for a long time. Who knew with kids would come no sleep, giving up lots of things for ourselves, hard work, fights, tears, and they are not perfect. No one is perfect though. Oh yes....plus they took that perfect waistline and Hubs hair away. What were we thinking???????? Thank God we weren't thinking otherwise we would not have made it through 17 years of a lot of bliss and a lot of mind blowing messes.

So Saturday morning started out pretty perfect. Hubs took the day off. This meant I got to sleep in. He took Cole to his basketball game and I got extra ZZZZZZZZZ's. I woke up and they were already back from the game. Hub's brought me a giant Dr Pepper from sonic. Cole came in and told me he got the winning basket in his game. Then he told me right before he got it he said..."I need to make this shot for my mom and dad since it's their anniversary". Then the good old motherly guilt set in that I had missed this moment. I got up and in the kitchen there was a card and a dozen roses. The roses were placed perfectly so what if they were perfectly placed in a Wurstfest beer pitcher. It's the thought that counts right????? So I gave Hubs my gift to him. It was a set of sheets. A few weeks ago he was complaining about our sheets. I listen!!!!!! After he got his sheets I said...."Where's my gift, where's my gift????". He grinned like a cat with it's eyes pooping out of it's head. Ya know the kind you see on those silly cards. He had nothing to say. So I sat down to eat. Aidan...aka...Pig Pen came around the corner. I tell Pig Pen to go ask Dad what he got me as a gift. He disappears for a few minutes. He comes back looking like one of those crazy cats. He sits down and I say..."Well????". He shakes his head and says.."I don't really want to tell you cause your not going to like it". I say.."Just tell me please!!!!!". He says..."Are you sure because your going to be mad???". I say.."Yes". He won't even look up at me when he whispers "vacuum bags". He is shaking his head in disgust. I say.."No, your kidding right??". He says..."I'm not I swear". I say..."Do you think that's a good gift???". He says.."No, I would have never gotten you that". I laugh because I did get Hubs a vacuum for Christmas.

Hubs comes around the corner and I say..."Can I have my gift with lots of excitement in my voice". He says.."I got you vacuum bags". I say.."No, you didn't, now give me the real gift". He has nothing. We go about our day. Running errands and driving kids around. It's time to start getting ready to go out for dinner. Hubs had disappeared in the car for a bit. My guess is he was out scrambling for a gift. My guess was right. He comes around corner and says.."Here is your gift". He hands me a bottle of perfume. I look at it and laugh. He says.."What is so funny????". I say..."I have a full bottle of that same perfume on the bathroom counter". He says..."You do????". Looking a lot like that cat again. He says.."Then you like it". I say..Yes, but I have a big bottle of it already". So he hands me the receipt so I can return it. Now if he was a good listener he would take it back and get me something else that he picked out. Since he is not I will be returning it this week for a different kind. Like I said...no one is perfect.

We go out for a nice dinner at a new steak house in Drip. The food was really good. The people who just bought our house were two tables over from us. I look at him across the table and say..."Wow 17 years what do you think about that??". He says..."I think you still look good". I say..."What???? That is what your thinking???? I still look good???? How about I turned out to be a great partner or mother????". He gets that cat look again and says..."Well I said that cause you sure look pretty tonight". Oh I just want to be loved for my mind!!!!!! After this we head to the Barber Shop, a local beer place. Let the romance continue to flow.

So while writing this I think would I change things or do I have any regrets. I would change of ton of things and I have many regrets if I'm going to be honest. I think most people have things they would change and have regrets. This doesn't mean I would change being married or having my three not so perfect children. I would just like a do over so I could do it all better. After reading this can't you just hear Barry singing "Looks like we made it" in your head??? Lets see if we make it 17 more years. The true test will come when the kids are gone and we really only have each other to hang out with. What would I say is the key to a good marriage????? Biting your tongue lots, stroking their ego a lot, and putting out on a regular basis. Word...I'm still working on all that!