What's 9 years?

Paul and I will be married 9 years tomorrow. Wow, 9 years! I'm smiling already just thinking back on what has filled those years...the laughter, the tears, the hotlinks! For a while, I think the Hunts thought that was the only thing we knew how to make for dinner! :)

It is amazing how God brings two very different people, from two very different backgrounds, together to make one blessed union. I mean, who else could take an artist and an engineer and create eternal soul mates? Oh, we were two very different people then...learning to come together as one...learning to share the checkbook, learning to actually swallow the heart-felt dinner, learning to sleep together, learning to fight, learning to load the dishwasher, and of course, learning where the canned peaches "should go." Learning that there are different ways of doing things, and admitting that doing it differently is okay. Learning that weird family quirks make up the one we love so dearly, only to realize later that the one most desirable thing that attracted you in the beginning is the one thing you despise the most now. Oh, what a tangle web we weave! :)

Nine years into this thing, I still see two very different people, from two very different backgrounds, making one blessed union. It can't be summed up any better than this:

My day as Cinderella,
rice stuck EVERYWHERE,
a cabin in the mountains,
the unforgettable honeymoon body rash,
calamine lotion,
a moose in downtown,
sleeping deer,
LAMA!
cross-country in a rodeo,
Mt. Rushmore,
an Aspen leaf,
the Black Hills,
my first snowman!
"I miss being Samantha Ingram!"
Brett Lane-our first home, and still my favorite
Sidewalks and Garage!!!
two pink lines,
a transfer to Chicago,
a basement!...not just for tornadoes
snowflakes as big as quarters
a brain tumor and a miracle!!!!!!!!
MidWest weather
two heartbeats,
no more silence,
Grandpa Munster,
ankle braces and a miracle!!!!!!!
the Lion King,
moving back to Texas,
building a home,
a broken arm,
biopsies, and surgeries and frozen peas for both of us!
Rita, Gustav, and Ike,
the growth of hair, the loss of hair
learning to swim, and the believing that I could do it

the list goes on and on! All of that to say, we ARE becoming one, but we are still learning how to do it...sharing finances, still trying to swallow some of those brilliant recipes and then laughing as we call for pizza. We are still learning how to sleep together...well, for me anyway, as I sit here blogging. Yes, we are still learning how to fight...ie. the reason we didn't sleep together last night. We've come to realize that as long as the dishes get clean, we don't care how the dishwasher is loaded, and that in the big scheme of things, it really DOESN'T matter where the canned peaches go. We've come to laugh at our families, with all due love and respect, and fearfully realize we are mini-mes of Nelson and Doris Jean. All of that in nine years!

Every year I watch our wedding video, and laugh and cry, and enjoy every moment of it. The very best part of it though is reliving the "feeling" of being Cinderella once again...if only for a brief moment before I starkly wake to the reality that Cinderella just stepped in the spilled juice that she forgot to mop up earlier that day. "Ah, to be Cinderella!" How blessed I am that after 9 years, the snorer in the next room is still my Prince Charming. I wouldn't change it for the world! Here is to many, many more!!! I love you Paul! Happy Anniversary!