Today is my anniversary. 16 Years we have been married. Sixteen. What a number. It is a magical number for me. I hadn’t really thought about it before until today. It was my mile marker. My yard stick. How I would measure whether or not I had “made” it. That we were forever only becomes real after we hit this mark. What am I talking about? Let me tell you if you feel like hearing about it …
I met Michael when I was 16. We broke the rules, all the of the rules. My Mom and Dad had recently split up. Mom was in Florida, Dad was in Missouri. I had gone to Missouri for a visit that turned into a stay. Dad didn’t have many rules and I was 16, he wanted us to stay and that made it even easier. His one rule was “No dating the GI’s” My Dad was in the Army. Well that rule got broken right quick let me tell you. All it took was one look at Michael and pfft what rule? We tried for all of a single weekend to be discreet and not let on … yeah well that didn’t last long. When you spend 2 hours sitting in a truck while he is washing,waxing, wiping and not looking at what he is doing … even a blind man could tell there was interest there.
So anyway we broke the rules. Not only did we date, we fell in love, we had a baby, we got married and we moved away. Rules what rules? The rules said Don’t date when the age difference is so big…. a teenager doesn’t know their own minds or bodies, getting married young will never last, your ruining your life by having a child so young, you better finish school first…. ok so that last one might have had something to it.
We have been married for 16 years. I lived 16 years before Michael and 16 with him. There were a few months in between there where we fought and made up several times but hey we made it through. Half of my life. 16 that magical number. My parents were together for 16 years. It didn’t click until today. This was the number I was waiting for. My 5th and 10th anniversaries went by smoothly but were not a huge thing for me. Just another number… why? well they were not 16. I guess in my heart where it mattered most to me 16 was a make it or break it number. My parents didn’t make it past it. when I was 16 my life changed, my home as I knew it changed, I was changing and finding myself, rules were changing and it was a mess. then I met Michael and it changed again, then I was pregnant and it changed again. I moved and tada another change all at 16. Now here I sit. I have made it to 16. I have a home and a house (they are not that same thing you know). A family if my own and a 16 year old daughter, Her parents are together and still going. We have never mention or thought of splitting up not once since we said I do. Do we have the perfect marriage? No LOL who does? We fuss and fight but the love is there, it is strong and it is a lasting love. It is everything I could have hoped for it to be as I stood there and said I do. Michael is my other half, my soul mate the one God chose for me. He completes me and keeps me sane. He knows most of mt faults and ignores them as I do his. We laugh together, cry together and love together. We raise our children together and watch them grow. We have alot to be thankful for. We have been together for half of my life, and I hope for many, many, many more years to come. I made it to 16. Now I can take a deep breathe and get ready for the long haul as they say. I plan to say I made it to 25, 50 and who knows how long after that?
Happy Anniversary to me.
