We've Come A Long Way, Baby. -- 70 for 7

1. Every night during our first two weeks of marriage we would walk across busy 29N to buy Ramen Noodles from Kroger and then go back and cook them in our hotel microwave for dinner at our first home the Charlottesville Holiday Inn.

2. We spent many evenings during our first months of marriage watching Ken Burn's Civil War on our bed in our living room at our Barboursville apartment.

3. We watched all sorts of movies and ate dinner every night on our bed in our living room at our Barboursville apartment.

4. I especially remember that winter night when I was very sick and we watched "It's Wonderful Life". It was your first time seeing it. We watched To Kill A Mockingbird around that time too. Also your first time. You were such a movie virgin and it was fun seeing the classics through the eyes of someone who hadn't already seen them.

5. I wrecked our Civic into Toney Critzer's car on our one month anniversary. You were so nice about it but I cried when you told me to "Tighten up." What a lightweight I was!

6. Our first Christmas you worked a 12 hour shift at the hospital and I decorated our pathetic borrowed Christmas tree and cooked the fanciest thing I knew how to cook (crock pot roast). That night was one of the few nights we didn't eat on our bed. We got fancy and made a picnic on the floor. You surprised me with a ton of precious, thoughtful gifts. All I had for you was a cigar, cigar cutter, and a hard boiled egg timer. Wow, that was embarrassing to type. Sadly, that gift trend continues to this day. I think you like it that way, though, which is totally endearing.

7. Our first Valentine's Day as a married couple was a Candlelit Stuffed Crust Pizza and Tetris party.  I am not sure we have been able to top that yet!

8. You were always so kind to linger and talk to Shirley every night on our back porch before we went in for the evening.

9. You would drive me into town in the morning to work at the Happy Cook while you stayed at the Barnes and Noble until catching the bus to the hospital later in the day. Then I would go home after work and do little wifely things like vacuum and call you a million times and finally go pick you up at 11:00.   I was always so scared walking to my car, but loved to give a quick look up at beautiful country stars before I hopped in and locked the doors.

10. I unexpectedly cried like a baby the day we moved all of our stuff out of that impossibly small apartment. "The Snuggery" as we called it, was the cradle of our family. You just hugged me, but I could tell it was hard for you to say goodbye too. And, yeah, I teared up again just thinking about it.

11. We stopped at the gas station on Barracks on our way out of town just after Hurricane Katrina to take a picture of the $3+ gas prices. We had never seen anything like it.

12. We had so much fun painting and fixing up the house we rented from Alice. We loved hitting the estate sales and getting everything set up just right. I was so happy the day we brought home the orange love seat later known as "the crying couch". We felt like such big kids living in that house.

13. Then there was the day we came home and found an envelope taped to our door that said "Ron and wife (sorry I forgot your name)". Inside was the three page letter from our downstairs neighbor Jeremiah letting us know just how ridiculously loud we were. "Yes, it does sound ridiculous." But cut him some slack. I mean his whole body was shaking including his light fixtures.

14. Later that week Alice called us over to her house to talk about a problem and when we walked in we saw our new pastor sitting there. I remember thinking that we must be in big trouble and my mind was racing to figure out what we had done. Turned out there was no insulation in between our house and Jeremiah's basement apartment. The solution Alice came up with was for us to tiptoe. And we did. We walked on our tiptoes and asked our guests to as well 100% of the time we were home for the whole year we lived there. You were much more gracious about it than I was. That trend also continues to this day.

15. We spent many weekend evenings at the Barnes' movie nights.  You always worked hard to make the discussion time profitable.  I didn't realize how precious that was at the time but I do now.

16. Our first vacation was a surprise trip you planned for me to Gettysburg. We had so much fun! Our super cold bike tour was my favorite part even though the gears were messed up on my bike and I couldn't keep up. I also disctinctly remember the phone ringing on that Sunday morning. It was Vinnie. We had forgotten to tell him we wouldn't be picking him up for church. We gave each other pained, guilty looks and shrugged and then you did the only thing you could do. You silenced your phone.

17. The day you started your new job at SNL I busted my head open at the bank. I didn't know how to call you at work. I didn't know if we had insurance yet. I tried to refuse to go to the ER for stitches but J.B. made me. You were so surprised when you got home from work that night to find me laying on the couch with my head all stitched up. You new job was wonderful though. We felt so lucky.

18. I am back-tracking now, but we can't forget the night Toney came into our Barboursville apartment and hemmed and hawed around a bit, making us think we were in trouble, but then told us he felt God had told him to give us his truck. Goodness, that's a special memory.

19. Monday nights meant one thing - 24! First year at Nicole's house, next year at our house with Kristen and Page, last year before kids at Kristen and Page's house. Most memorable moments were, first, David Palmer taking a bullet through the throat in the opening seconds of the premier of season 5. We all weren't even sitting down yet and our minds were blown. And, second, the silent tick off after CTU was gassed and Edgar died. We were all silent too.

20.  You walking into my hospital room in Italy is one of the most vivid memories of our marriage. You were wearing your plaid cowboy-ish shirt. I have never felt such a palpable sense of relief or been happier to see anyone in my entire life. You make good things better and you make bad things better for me too.

21. We named the baby we never got to meet Smidge.

22. When flying into Oklahoma a couple months later I got unusually sick on the landing. I remember telling you something was different because that wasn't normal. Later that week my mom's massage technician said she had a hunch from rubbing my feet and suggested I take a pregnancy test. I did and we found out just what that something different was -- it was a tiny little thing that we would one day know as our Sweet Afton.

23. I was sick as a dog and fast with that little sweetie growing inside of me. You signed us up for cable for the first time in our marriage so I would have something to do while lying miserably on the couch. That something was usually something worthless like Dancing With The Stars or Everybody Loves Raymond. You would also get me Sprite from the vending machine in the basement of our building and chips and salsa from the Guad whenever I asked. You would even call my boss on the mornings I was too sick to go to work. I owe you, don't I? Well, you did get a beautiful daughter, the apple of your eye, out of it so I guess we are even.

24. Bessiah. I don't know what else to say. I feel like I should say more for the sake of posterity, but what? Just Bessiah. That's all.

24. You were always so kind to Wayne our neighbor. Having him over for tea. Chatting with him in the elevator.  Walking super slow with him downtown.

25. Remember the night we were awakened to loud crashes and screaming in the hallway? I almost walked right out there to see what was going on, but thankfully you held me back. We tried to watch the action from our peep hole. A jealous husband or boyfriend pounding on Ricardo's door was all we could see. In the morning there was blood smeared on the hallway wall. Probably the scariest night I've ever had, but also a good story to tell at work the next day.

26. Speaking of a good story to tell...how about horses loose on the highway? Driving home from our precious date to see Pride and Prejudice in Washington DC, right at the darkest and blackest point of Highway 29 (which we now happen to know is 37 miles north of Charlottesville) we came upon a horse farm whose horses had escaped and were roaming wild on the busy highway. Their owner, an old lady in pajamas, was trying desperately to catch them as fast moving cars slammed on their breaks and swerved off the road barely in time to miss them. You took it upon yourself to get out of the car and stand in road several yards ahead of where the horses were to flag down cars and give them a heads up to slow down. The horses were hard to see in the dark so they could have easily been hit. The only problem was you were wearing all black and cars could barely see you either. I am sure you gave them an awful fright standing in the street waving your arms. But they were all definitely more alert going a lot slower by the time they got to the horses. I honked the horn and cried and yelled at you to get out of the street. You finally yelled back at me that there was no way you were going to let those beautiful animals get hit. I both loved you and hated you for risking your life to save those stupid, stubborn horses.

27. There was that time we almost bought that old dirty house on Ridge Street where all the sex offenders live.  And the day we spent touring Barracks West and the condo we thought of buying in Hessian Hills. Close ones all.

28. Every night in our first High Street apartment you would read my pregnancy journal aloud to us and we would write in all the answers to the questions about my weight gain and morning sickness and eagerness to me our baby.

29. After 29 harrowing hours of labor Afton's heart rate was plummeting. Dr. Montgomery, usually cool as a cuke, yelled frantically into hall "I need help in here NOW!" I was on my way to the O.R. in a flash. I burst into tears. I wasn't crying about the baby. I was crying because I felt certain that I was going to die and I was so sad that your last memory of me would be all my grumpy unfriendliness from the previous hours.

30. When Afton was born I was the first to catch sight of her across the room where the pediatricians were checking her out. I whispered to you, "Look, there she is!" She looked annoyed. We were never the same.

31. When Afton was two weeks old we took her to one of SNL's Happy Hours at McGrady's. We felt like pretty cool parents for not letting our new baby keep us from Happy Hour. You were so proud to show her off to all your co-workers and even picked out her pink and white striped onesie and hot pink knit pants. One of your friends called her a boy. I think you are still mad.

32. I was at Sam's when I got the call that my Aunt Debby was very sick and in the hospital. I called you and drove straight home. By the time I arrived you had bought me a plane ticket and were home from work to give me a hug and the directions to BWI you had printed out for me and the best pep talk ever given about travelling alone with a two month old. Like I said you make bad things better. What a priceless trait.

33. We enjoyed watching the Expedition Everest series in 2007. I laid on the couch by the window, you sat on the other couch facing the TV. You loved that show, but you put up with all my comments about how ridiculous climbing Mt. Everest seemed to me. During the commercials we would go into Afton's room and look at her in her crib and talk about how wonderful she was and how big she was getting and how we just couldn't believe every thing about her.

34.  When we were putting Afton to bed the one of us who was holding her would ask the other for a "set-up". That meant taking her special blanket later known as "matesie" and laying it flat on the couch with the top corner turned down for a perfect swaddle.

35. One Sunday night after evening church I took a pregnancy test in our back bathroom. I had been feeling kinda funny for a couple of weeks but I was mostly just doing it for kicks and giggles. I mean there was no way I was pregnant. Afton was only seven months old for goodness sake. I don't think my eyes have ever been as bigger than they were when I saw that second line appear on the test. "Ronny, I think we need to have to talk." I called weakly into the living room. The "WHAT?!" I got in reply was something other than weak.

36. We called our unexpected little blessing Baby Somebody until we knew what flavor of name he or she would need. We both assumed Baby Somebody would need a boy name. That's what happens after you have girl, right? You have boy? Turns out Baby Somebody was nothing but surprises. That's another trend that continues to this day.

37. The night before we had our ultrasound we went on a walk downtown and talked about what we would name this baby if it happened to be a girl. We had wanted to name a daughter Ponder since before we were married. Now that there was an acutal baby in question I was worried that naming our child such an unusual name would bring the drama of unsolicited opinions and criticisms into our life and I wasn't sure I had the energy for all of that. You were adamant that it was an awesome name and it didn't matter what anyone else thought. Our baby would make her name what it became. I was right. The name drama started within minutes of us announcing it.  Somehow rather than annoying me it just made me more happy and sure of the name we had chosen. You were right too. It is an awesome name and our Baby Somebody has made it beautiful.

38. When you found out that you would be travelling to Pakistan and India during the last few weeks of my pregnancy you worked really hard to have the house totally set up for the new baby and our family size car purchased before you left. It was a lot of work and caused us a good amount of strife but when we headed out for your trip everything was done. Now that I better understand your preference for "just in time logistics" I appreciate more that you did all of that just for my peace of mind. So let me take this moment now to give you the credit that I am sure I didn't give you back then. Thanks, baby. What a relief having all that squared away was to me!

39. At the airport on the way to Florida where I was going to stay while you were in the Eastern Hemisphere we came dangerously close to missing our flight. Rushing through the airport with a one year old and a nine months pregnant lady didn't go too well and we started getting short tempered with each other. This culminated in my accidentally dropping our empty stroller all the way down a tall airport escalator and you storming off with Afton in disgust. I barely caught up in time to board the plane and when I did I was livid. I was going off about how I could have been dragged down the escalator by that stroller and who leaves their pregnant wife alone to run to a plane and you just looked at me seriously and said "You are talking way too loud." I heard myself then and I wanted to laugh at the thought of a sweaty, breathless pregnant lady yelling at her husband on a plane but I wasn't ready to stop being mad yet so I wouldn't allow myself the giggle.

40. I tried to be brave while you were in Pakistan and India but I was so worried about you when I was supposed to be sleeping because I knew that was your day time. I slept with your computer in my bed and if I woke up worried I would look at your remote working site and see that you were emailing and doing your work and I would know that you were okay and go back to sleep.

41. Ponder entered the family with a roar! She cried all the time. She especially cried at night. Every night from 8-11. Without fail. You would walk her and walk her with your shooting range ear protectors on until she finally fell asleep. I guess you were honing what later became known as your "baby slayer" skills. My memories of those early colicky days are spliced with images from the 2008 Summer Olympics. One night I was holding her and she was finally asleep when Michael Phelps won an amazing race and I couldn't help cheering loud and jumping up and down a bit. You looked at me like I was crazy and then we both shrugged because we knew Michael Phelps was too awesome not to cheer for even with rare and precious silence on the line.

42. I think 2008 was the hardest year of our marriage so far. Work had gotten a lot more challenging and time consuming for you. Having a busy one year old and a colicky infant was more challenge than I had ever dreamed of and that is for sure. We still had a lot to learn to understand about each other but we no longer had all the time in the world to spend learning it. We loved each other but our heads started butting more frequently and most often they butted around dinner time. Unfortunately, this memory happened over and over again. I would email you at 5:00 and ask you what time you would be home. You had no idea but would guess and say 6:00. I would clean up the toys, change diapers, fix dinner. And wait and watch it all fall apart. You would come in at a quarter to 7:00 totally spent and ready to relax and find toys everywhere again, babies melting down, dinner cold and a frazzled wife furious that all her hard work had come to naught.  And repeat, repeat, repeat.  Somehow we made it over that mountain over the next year or two, but not without many tearful and frustrating conversations, lots of prayer, learning the sometimes miserable process of dying to ourselves, and heaps and heaps and heaps of the marvelous grace of God.  

43.  One of our most enduring joys and traditions became having a bowl of ice cream in the evening after the kids were in bed while watching a Netflix movie or a televised sporting event.  You are usually the ice cream server and you always ask the same questions "What kind of bowl do you want?" and "Sauce or no sauce?"  When I am serving up ice cream I never have to ask whether or not you want sauce.  You do and you want a lot of it.  In fact if any of the ice cream is showing that is not enough sauce for you.

44.  I always hated watching football growing up.  When you would watch it during the first few years of our marriage I still hated it.  Sometime during the 2007-2008 NFL season that all changed.  I think rooting against the Patriots during the their undefeated season kept me me coming back for more and somehow won me over.  Watching the NFL and pretty much any sporting event together has become another one of the simple but delightful joys of our marriage.

45.  When you would come home from work to our High Street apartment we could always hear your keys jingling in the hall.  No matter where Afton was when she heard it she would come running to the door smiling ear to ear.  She has always loved Daddy!  You would scoop her up and do Bounce! Bounce! Bounce! down the hall with her.  Such joy!

46.  On the last day of 2008 you completed a huge project for work that you had been working on for months.  At some point in that day it clicked with me what a big deal it was so I decided to make you a special celebration.  I learned to pan fry steak and make sweet tea for the first time.  I remember realizing and being surprised how touched you were by our little celebration that night.  I was touched that something like that could mean so much to you.  I think that  night I began to understand you better in ways I am still just learning to flesh out.

47.  We were late for church a lot.  Some might say every Sunday.  One Sunday we were so late that as we opened the door we heard that the sermon had already started.  We took our kids and our "bring a pot dinner" back to the car and just drove home.  Better luck next time.

48.  I will never forget your face on that fateful trip down the slide that ended in Afton's broken leg.  I didn't know what could have possibly happened but I knew it wasn't good by the panic and horror that washed over your face.  I know you still haven't forgiven yourself, but I stand firm in my belief that she is much better off having her leg broken while playing with her Daddy than never getting hurt at all but having a Daddy that doesn't play with her.

49.  This is another back track.  While I was in Oklahoma with my Aunt Debby just before she died you had to move all our stuff to our new apartment without me.  I came home late at night, exhausted, and expecting to find the house in the full disarray of a recent move.  Instead I found the whole living room totally set up, books in bookshelves, electronics hooked up and operational, tastful lighting...I found a home.  Possibly the best surprise you have ever given me, which is saying a lot.

50.  You affectionately call the last apartment we lived in Charlottesville "Gran Torino".  It was rough. Our first upstairs neighbors were especially rough.  I think we realized Abbington Crossing wasn't the pleasant little community it seemed the night during our first couple of weeks there that there was the raucous, drunken party upstairs featuring excessively loud Michael Jackson tunes and culminating in our neighbor falling from his third story balcony.  There are more stories too, and yet somehow that was my favorite place we lived the whole time we were in C-ville.

51.  A few years into our marriage we decided to keep Sundays restful by having a frozen pizza for lunch each week.  When the kids were still too little to eat pizza we had a routine we called the "23 Minute Drill".  Our Digiorno pizzas from Sam's take 23 minutes to bake.  When we got home from church I would pop one in the oven and whip up a kids lunch while you got the girl's out of they're Sunday clothes and into their napping clothes.  The goal was to have them fed, changed, and in bed by the time our pizza was done so we could enjoy it in peace and quiet.  We got to be a pretty efficient team at the 23 Minute Drill and are reward of a quiet easy Sunday lunch was always so sweet.

52.  For our five year anniversary and you took the whole family to New York City or "York City" as Afton called it then.  Lots of good memories but some of the stands outs are walking the girls to sleep in their stroller so we could leisurely tour the Met without worrying about them getting bored, Afton's face when we took her into what we called "Mickey Mouse's house" (the Manhattan Disney Store), and the last night trying to find a delicious Italian restaurant and instead ending up at a place with a bathroom so nasty I told Afton to go ahead and pee her pants.  I also remember watching Talladega Nights in our Times Square apartment and even though we were trying not to wake the girl's up we couldn't help laughing out loud.  That night on our bed we decided that if the new baby I was carrying was a girl we would name her Rose Virginia.

53.  From the Fall of 2009 to the Spring of 2010 we were all sick one after another after another.  It started with Afton having Hand, Foot, and Mouth in September and didn't stop until April.  Ponder and I had the dreaded '09 Swine Flu which caused me to cough so hard that Rose's head hit up against my ribcage and cracked one of my ribs.  You became very ill on New Year's Eve but wouldn't admit you were as sick as your were.  I had to kidnap you from work to take you to Urgent Care where we found out you had pneumonia.  The doctor said not worry there was only a 1 in 10 chance you would have died had you not sought medical attention.  You took that as proof that you didn't actually need to come in, but I knew his point was quite to the contrary.  He prescribed you the anti-biotic they use for Anthrax and as an afterthought gave us a coupon that made it free.  It was a good thing too because it turned out that medicine cost nearly four hundred dollars.  The coupon was good through that day 12/31/09.

54.   Tim came to town one weekend for the express purpose of making an Amazing Race application video with you.  I was the videographer and quite pregnant with Rose.  You both gave me a hard time because my loud breathing could be heard throughout video.  It was a fun and exciting weekend.  I still think they may give you a call one day.

55.  During the Winter of 2009 Virginia got the biggest snow storm it had ever gotten in the twelve years we lived there.  We played with the girls in the snow.  It was so deep they couldn't even stand in it without being completely consumed.  You would take Afton and throw her into the snow banks.  She giggled her heart out.  Ponder wasn't too big a fan of the snow.  She did love all the Lego "cackles" we built with her that weekend while we were warming up inside.  When we lost power for a while you took the stuff out of our freezer and put it in one of your storage buckets and buried it in the snow.  You were pretty proud of yourself.  We found a very important glitch in our emergency supplies later when we went to make french press coffee and realized we had no way to grind the coffee beans.  We take our coffee seriously around here so that problem was fixed the moment we could get stores again.  The snow mountain made by the snow plows at Barracks Road Shopping dubbed Mt. Chipotle was still there when we moved away in June.

56.  You came home from church one Sunday and told me that you had decided that we were going to move to Greenville, SC the following spring.  We had been planning an eventual move there for a while but it always seemed way off in the foggy future.  You said you had realized there was no compelling reason to stay in Charlottesville any longer when we had decided we wanted to settle in Greenville.  No details were firm and we had a lot of unanswered questions about how it would work out but I could tell you were completely serious.  I was excited and immediately started looking for places to live in Travelers Rest.   Before long emails from a realtor named John Yukich started showing up in my inbox everyday.

57.  By the time Rose came home from the hospital you had perfected your baby slaying skills.  She was powerless against your swaddling, walking, and bouncing techniques.  Babies under your spell will fall asleep whether they want to or not.  I think we may have Ponder to thank for that.

58.  I am remiss in failing to mention Chipotle until now.  We ate there on a weekly if not semi-weekly basis from the moment it opened in March 2007.  I remember once telling you during my pregnancy with Rose that Chipotle was so delicious, healthy, and affordable that it seemed crazy to ever eat anywhere else including our own home.  I am pretty sure Rose was less than a week old when she made her first visit.

59.  I was standing in White House Black Market when you called me to tell me your pitch to move to South Carolina and work from home was received very enthusiastically by your bosses.  We were so excited.  It was really happening.  A few days later you bumped into your CEO in a coffee shop and found that you had the official green light.  We were moving!  Even though I had I always believed it would really happen I couldn't believe it was really happening!

60.  A couple days later I got an email from the realtor in South Carolina.  An off-white Cape Cod house was for sale in our price range and in the area we wanted.  I had been getting emails like this for months but this house stood out.  I loved it.  I actually thought I loved it too much.  I closed the site because I didn't want to look at it anymore.  I knew I would get to attached to it and become unable to be objective.  Who knew love at first sight can even happen between ladies and houses?

61.  That off-white Cape Cod house was the second one we saw on the our house hunting trip to South Carolina.  You gave me a pep talk on the drive over about keeping a poker face and not letting the realtor know how much I already loved it.  I listened and was determined to comply, but before the realtor even got the door opened I snuck a quick picture of three week old Rose sleeping in her carrier in yard.  I knew in my heart that this was where she would spend her childhood.  I don't even think we had made it to the last bedroom before you told the realtor we were ready to go make an offer.  My poker face must have been pretty good because he told you to check with me first. He didn't think I seemed too enthusiastic about the place.  Joke was on him.

62.  Before we moved we took a three week road trip vacation through the south.  On the day we were supposed to drive back I woke up with a bad stomach bug.  I felt bad that I wouldn't be able to help much with the driving, then I found out you had been up all night sick as well.  The tummy bug extended our vacation by one day.  We were sick in bed.  My mom and Steve took care of the kids I guess.  That is one day where I have absolutely know idea what our kids were doing!

63.  It was on that trip that we perfected our outlet mall shopping with small children method.  We spent the day at the Knoxville outlets.  We kept a movie playing in the car while we took turns going into the stores.  I can honestly say fun was had by all.

64.  I am not exactly sure when Jelly Weekend started but by the time we were living here it was a well established tradition.  On Saturday mornings you make breakfast.  It is always toast with jelly that is stamped with a Mickey Mouse toast cutter.  The girls watch all the kids shows they want.  Simple, but it is no doubt the high point of there week and memory I am sure the will cherish fondly even when they are grown.

65.  We were sitting in our TV room after a long Christmas trip to Oklahoma.  You were trying to talk me into going to Florida for New Years Eve.  All of a sudden you got at wild look in your eye and said "We could get crazy and go to Disney World too."  Those were big guns.  I had been dying to take the girls to Disney World while they were still little enough to believe it was all real and magical.  Moments later we were emptying out piggy banks and deciding what attractions we wanted to see.  We had a priceless, magical day at the Magic Kingdom.   One that I know at least I will never forget.

66.   Rose was diagnosed with torticollis when she was 10 months old.  I was beside myself.  A total basket case.  You were so strong and committed to doing her stretches with her even though she screamed like you were killing her.  You were just what she needed - a calm loving Daddy who was going to do whatever it took to help her no matter how hard it was.  I have no words for how much that blessed my heart.  Thank you.

67.  A clean and friendly little kitten showed up in our yard in early Spring 2011 and wouldn't leave.  She won the hearts of our girls right away.  You and I were a little more hesitant.  Our fate was sealed on night at dinner. The kitten later known as Cattie stood looking longingly into the picture window that faced our dining room table and 11 month old Rose who had yet to say any words reached up, touched the window, smiled and said "Cat."  We exchanged looks questioning whether or not we had heard that correctly.  We had and from that moment on Cattie was ours.  There was no going back.

68.  We spent the whole afternoon and evening on Easter Sunday 2011 planting our first garden.  I remember noting how perfectly in your element you looked working hard in the dirt.  I know you are less than pleased with the way our it turned out, but I have no doubt that my hunch was correct that day and someday you will make a fine gardener indeed.

69.  We got off of a plane this summer in Tulsa, Oklahoma and it was 109 degrees outside.  The first thing you did was stop for hot coffee.  I have learned a lot about you in the past seven years, but I am content to know there are somethings I will never understand.

70.  Seven years ago today I became your wife.  I woke up this morning exponentially happier than I was back then which is saying a lot.  We've come a long way, baby.  May the Lord give us many, many, many more days together on this crazy, steep, winding, beautiful road.  I love you so.