Eight Years

Whenever our anniversary rolls around, I start thinking about how long we've been married in relation to other spans of time in my life.

This year, I'm thinking of how a U.S. president is in office for eight years at the most, and how so much can happen in that amount of time to impact the world. I think back to when I was eight years old and how I felt like I knew so much already (I was the big sister, you know) but still had an entire life ahead of me. I think about the eight years that comprised the sum of high school and college for me and how much I changed and developed as a person in that time: I became an adult somewhere in there.

Eight years really is a significant portion of one's life -- 27.12% of my life, to be almost exact. And that's how long I've spent married to this really cool guy named Eric, who not only is my most intimate confidant, but the person I most love to laugh with. I love to just spend time with him doing nothing, and I love to make really important decisions with him. His personality and talents smooth over some of my foibles. We work really well together as a team, be it in the kitchen, in the yard, in parenting, or in planning a new program at a college. Life with him is just....easier. In him, I am able to realize the true partnership that marriage is supposed to be.

And I feel so blessed and undeserving.

Thank you, Babe, for eight wonderful years.

This is us at Toyo Grill last night, where we indulged ourselves with sushi and tempura, followed by a viewing of the new Star Trek movie and some cheese fries and milkshakes at Steak'n'Shake. It was a date to be remembered.

Here's one of our favorite songs that we feel sums up a lot of who we are.

This Is Us (Album Version) - Mark Knopfler And Emmylou Harris