10 years and counting...

This is a quick post to reflect on 10 years of marriage... again. I am sitting on my lanai and my 2nd husband is firmly applied to the couch in the sitting room (inside) watching the news. We have a realistic marriage.

We don't make a big fuss about anniversaries or birthdays or holidays. We don't put pressure on each other to buy Hallmark cards or gifts that we don't need. We have a realistic marriage.

We woke up this a.m. and gave each other a hug and kiss knowing that today would be comfortable and easy. We weren't going to rush but, instead, do what we each love to do. Drink coffee in our pajamas until we get tired of drinking coffee - me on the lanai and him firmly planted on the couch watching the news. We have a realistic marriage.

We have big plans to eat at some fine steakhouse but will probably end up at one of our hole in the wall restaurants in our bluejeans eating Grouper because we don't want to dress up. We have a realistic marriage.

Our activities today will be comprised of looking at model homes and exploring neighborhoods in the areas we would like to live someday. My Mother-In-Law will be with us because we like for her to be with us when we look at model homes and neighborhoods. We will dream and plan and scheme and cipher and figure and notate and, probably, fight once or twice because we don't agree on our cobbled together vision of our next 10 years together. My Mother-In-Law will say "Now Kids..." when we start fussing and we'll stop. We have a realistic marriage.

Our vision will get worn down in some spots and highlighted in others and erased and rewritten until we get it right and both of us are happy with the product we have produced through 10 years of plotting and planning and scheming and dreaming and ciphering and figuring and notating and... fussing. We have a realistic marriage.

So today we will have a realistic 10 year anniversary day, drinking coffee in our separate places until we get tired, not putting pressure on each other until after we have had our showers and dressed and started our day. We appreciate each other for who we are, we respect each other's space and try not to be persuaded by unrealistic expectations of what marriage is "supposed" to be. We just love each other and forgive when one is cranky and says things we don't mean or becomes unlovable. We hang in there no matter what.

We have a realistic marriage and I wouldn't change it for the world.

Happy Anniversary to my husband of 10 years. I hope we can replicate this day at least another 10 times. Is that unrealistic?