Real love

Last Thursday was our anniversary. We had planned a romantic getaway but, as is often the case, life happened and we counted ourselves lucky to be able to steal a couple of hours off by ourselves. We went to our favorite restaurant--a hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese place--and ordered our favorites by number since we can't pronounce the names of things on the menu.

After dinner we hurried to the dollar store to buy as many oh-please-dear-God-let-this-work toys to reward the two-year-old's potty training "efforts". We then hurried home and worked with said two-year-old for awhile, then one of us put kids to bed while the other did laundry. Then we settled down for a chat, a surprise bouquet of flowers (my husband knows what makes me happy), and a little kissing... ;)

And it made me think... This IS really what it's all about, isn't it? Not the romantic getaways (though those ARE nice every once in awhile), not the perfect evenings of strawberries and chocolate, not the cruises. What really bonds us to one another, what really makes us one is this--real life. It's the messy everyday stuff--the poop in the bathtub (been there, moms?), the never-ending remodel project, the tight finances, the kids, the laughs along the way--that fuse us together.

Our anniversary was perfect, actually. It was a perfect slice of the nine years of marriage that we are celebrating...nine years of life and real love...