7/19/10

Today is my anniversary. My seven year anniversary to be exact. I am sitting at Dewey's Pizza waiting for Travis (I am early and he is late.) We have gone to Dewey's for 5 of our 7 anniversaries. It is "our place." As I patiently await the arrival of my man, I reflect on the last 7 years (8 if you count the year we dated) of my life - I mean, what else have I got to do?

Throughout our lives together, we have had the following - 1 house, 5 cars, 2 dogs, 3 pregnancies, 2 children, 1 room mate, 5 TV's, 3 computers, 9 DVD players (they keep breaking), 11 jobs and multitudes of fights. There have been bouts of unemployment (both of us but thankfully not at the same time), we have both been back to school (he is the only one that finished,) have been broke and at other times went through money like water (this, no doubt, had a direct effect on being broke the other times.) Right now, we are in a really good place. We don't get to see each other enough and I now have to use a day planner to keep up with every one's schedule, but we are really happy together.

I met Travis when I was only 21, was engaged 3 months later on my 22nd birthday and got married a month before I turned 23. It was a whirlwind romance and looking back, I realize how young I was. I knew that I loved him and that he loved me but I could not back then fathom the strength, patience and understanding that it takes to be married. I have grown up a lot since I got married and I think one of the things that make Trav and I work is that he has allowed (and I don't use that word in the "given permission" sense but the encouraged sense) me to find out who I am. He has never been jealous of my need for time to myself (something that I still struggle with) and has been supportive through out my career changes and art projects and numerous classes that take time and money so that I can learn how to be me.

There have been times when I wasn't sure if we were going to make it and a few when we almost gave up. I am sure there will be more times like that in the future. Travis and I have different political, religious, parental and environmental views. We have virtually nothing in common except one thing. We are committed to each other and our relationship. We are a team and we always will be.

When we first fell in love, we used to say "I love you, forever and always, even though and even if." That means that I love him "even though" he is a republican and "even if" he goes fishing for 10 days in Canada with no cell reception when we have a 4 month old baby and I almost have a nervous breakdown because I (irrationally) think he is abandoning me. It also means that he loves me "even though" I am a horrible pack rat that keeps every scrap of paper that the children ever scribbled on and "even if" I am physically incapable of walking out of Target without buying 10 additional items that I don't need and spending less than $100. We don't say that phrase much anymore. It has gotten lost in the chaos that is our lives, but we should. No matter what happens in the future (never say never and always expect the unexpected) I will always love Travis because I wouldn't be who I am today without him and more importantly, I wouldn't want to.