"I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Laurence Kreusel. You may now kiss the bride." And that was it. All the agonizing over when he would propose, the excitement of planning a wedding and honeymoon, shopping for an apartment that we would call our first home and registering for all the objects that would be used in our new reality of oneness. That was six years ago... In those six years we have seen pounds come and go, my husband's fair share of gray hairs (hahahahaha- nana nana boo boo he has less than I do), my fair share of stretch marks, and most importantly four beautiful children this side of Heaven and one sweet baby we will meet one day. No one can tell us that we haven't changed a bit because we have. That girlish figure disappeared a long time ago and the lean muscle machine has gained some sympathy weight, but that's not all that's changed. We have a deeper understanding of what it means to love and respect one another. When we got married we couldn't have foreseen getting impatient over little things like towels on the floor, leaving hair in the drain or big things like house shopping. We could never anticipate how awful morning sickness would be with each pregnancy or how physically and mentally strenuous raising a family could be. I never thought I'd ever have prenatal depression with my third or suffer a miscarriage after finding out very unexpectedly that we were pregnant for the fourth time... And then immediately getting pregnant after such heartbreak. And three years ago we struggled with the decision to start a new business and sacrificing so much to make it happen (yeah that was and still is to a degree VERY difficult).
We haven't reached the ten year mark yet and we've probably experienced more than some people who have been married for that long. I'm in awe of how far we've come together and how much has stayed the same despite how much has changed. I'm also amazed at how that long list of "what I want in a husband" never contained bullet points such as "willing to stand by my side and suffer with me as I woke up at 2am every morning crying my eyes out because I hated being pregnant and I wanted to kill myself" (yeah depression is not pretty), "baby catcher", "cook while pregnant woman vomits her guts out and pick up the slack after a rough day at work because your wife is exhausted", "put up with hormonal roller coasters", or "a lap to curl up in when the pain inside your heart hurts so bad you couldn't possibly sleep anywhere else." I should probably add that in the midst of all the valleys we have also seen so many mountain tops such as the birth of each of our beautiful children, buying a house, celebrating a new company, and that list could go on and on.
The point of me going on about the tough times is this: I couldn't have prepared enough for what has come our way or what will come. I also think it is in those "cringe because it's so ugly" moments that the true qualities of my husband have been revealed. I didn't marry a man who is a quitter. I didn't marry a pansy. I married a man who was, is, and will always be willing to endure the grit of life with me. Six years and counting. I can for reals say that I love him more today than I did when he looked super lean and pristine in his suit waiting for me at the end of the aisle. Happy anniversary my darling. I couldn't have asked for more.
