How Do I Love Thee? Let Me List the Ways….

Your regularly scheduled Tacklerism Tuesday is on hiatus this week due to a special anniversary. Be sure to check out next week when Chase McFadden steps in, giving us toddlerisms courtesy of his Hellcat.

Today marks my 8th wedding anniversary.

Sure, the number doesn’t seem like much, until you add it with our time as a couple.

Fourteen and half years of togetherness.

Like any “normal” relationship there have been highs, lows, twists and turns.

Yes, some days I want to throttle him. My wrath when the toilet seat is left up in the master bathroom (which I use in the dark) and I fall in.. it isn’t pretty.

Especially when I was pregnant.

Still, I love him.

So let me “count the ways” in homage to our 8th anniversary, fourteen years of coupledom, and eighteen years of friendship.

I Love the Way…

I love the way you looked at me on our wedding day. Calm. Confident. Your gaze filled with love.

“Are you nervous,” everyone asked you.

“No.” No waiver in your voice. No hesitation.

I love the way you danced with me and my family, even though you don’t like to dance. Slow, fast, or swing, you rolled with it.

You share this love of mine with our children.

I love the way you accept me for who I am. I know I frustrate you often, my stubbornness often the cause. Then you show me how it is often a virtue, especially when dealing with our kids. You help me accept the good and the bad.

I love the way you cook, although you wish I did too. You aren’t afraid to dabble and try new things, and you open my mind to new possibilities. You grill a perfect filet.

You let me stick to baking.

I love the way you view any broken object as “I can fix this.” I first saw it when you were sixteen years old, fixing broken video games at an arcade, with almost no training. Yet somehow, you figured out how they worked.

Now, whether it be our washer, refrigerator, computer, or camera, I know you are determined to succeed without the help of the experts.

I love the way you hate to admit defeat, because I am the same. At times, it does drive me crazy, as it keeps my camera out of commission for months or an argument in the air. But really, I’m glad you are driven to succeed.

I love the way you laugh, whether the chuckle or the outburst, whooshing from your lungs, or any laugh in between.

I love the way you (usually) allow me a few extra minutes of sleep and wake up with the children.

When CG's nickname was still "Hair"

I love the way we stick together, even through the rocky times. Even if we don’t like each other on a particular day, when stress, lack of sleep, and no time to ourselves brings out the snappiness. We know it is just a day, and it will get better.

I love the way you’re a “hands on dad”. When we married, if someone handed you a child, fear crept into your eyes. You didn’t know what to do.

We're almost all looking at the camera.

You learned. Diapers. Tackling. Poopapalooza clean up at 4 AM. Cuddles. Wearing them in a carrier for hours on end because to set them down was to invite screams. Acting the fool to get the hysterical giggles. Tag teaming meals so we each could eat our food.

Nothing warms my heart more. Even when I am dissed by those I nursed for over a year for their fun Daddy….

The kids make their parental preference known last weekend.

I love you Computer God.

Happy anniversary. Sugar patookie*.

*No, we did not make this disgustingly cute nickname up. We deemed the “Small Potatoes” episode of the X-Files hysterical where they used this pet name (although a blurb I read online claims it was “sugar patootie”, we heard “patookie”, and it always made it us laugh to call each other by it. And we love to laugh.

If you could name one thing about your spouse/significant other you love(d), what would it be?