10 Years

It is June 16th. 10 years ago tonight, I sat playing poker with a bunch of my buddies enjoying my last night as a single person. Tomorrow is Steph and my 10th anniversary. A lot has happened in that time. A lot a lot.

I like to joke that no one reads this thing, so I'll just talk to Steph here.

Hon, it's been quite an adventure so far. It's been in some ways exactly what we signed up for. It's been in some ways completely unexpected. And it's been in all ways all I could have hoped for.

Even though I call you "Mommy" now more than anything else, you are still the person I married, and I still think of you as the one true love of my life. The four small people who run around at our feet on a daily basis may be interrupting our attempts to realize that, but it's still there.

I am proud of us. A lot of couples have come and gone in the last 10 years, but we're still going strong, and couldn't possibly think of any other way to live. We may drive each other crazy sometimes but at the end of the day, there's love. And that love that we share is the starting point and the ending point and the journey in between. Everything else is...nothing.

We're living with the mistakes we've made when we were young and stupid. They've made our new reality. But even though it creates stress and forces us to let some things go - I like our new economic life - it's honest. It's real. It's ours. And the sacrifices we've made to get to this point make our life richer, not poorer. Thank you for walking that road with me - even if our anniversary dinner is likely to be cooked in the microwave.

Neither of us are the same person we were 10 years ago. But the people we are today are made up of the same 'stuff' as that starry-eyed young couple who pledged their life and love to one another back in 2000. Time has changed us, but the thing that makes us special is still within us - and THAT is what we agreed to all that time ago.

I love you. I love that our life is insane. I love that we have no money. I love that our life is so unglamorous. Do I take you for granted sometimes? Sure. The way I take air, or water, or the second finger on my right hand, or anything else for granted. You're so much a part of me it's easy for me to forget you're there. And I am sorry for that. I pledge now to do a better job in the next 10 years of realizing that you're there. I pledge to continue loving you as much as I do now, and finding new ways to make that love grow and grow and grow. I pledge to continue being honest even when being honest really sucks for both of us. I pledge to finish my sentences quicker. I pledge to admit sooner when I'm upset about something and to admit a LOT sooner when I'm wrong and acting like a dumb teenager.

I could go on all night, but that's not what Matt in 2010 does. Matt in 2010 has to go do the laundry and some dishes. And some romantics out there might scoff at that, but we both know that sometimes the sweetest love letter is a small gesture. So I need to go do some laundry.

I love you - Thanks for sticking it out with me. Here's to a LOT more years.

Matt