Dear The One, Number 11...

Friday was #11; being married 11 years is one of the most rewarding things I've ever accomplished. 

It's one of the easiest things I've ever done...

• You are hot.
• You are funny.
• You are smart.
• You are a good dad.
• You are loyal and committed.

It's one of the hardest things I've ever done, too...

• Some days I take for granted that you are hot, funny, smart, a good dad, loyal and committed (HFSGDLC).
• Some days even HFSGDLC men are challenging.
• Most days I am challenging.
• Routine settles in.
• There is trash to be taken out, laundry to do, a baby to bathe, and jobs to keep.

One of the reasons I'm most proud of the 11 years is because getting married was a choice, and staying married has been a series of choices.  Staying married through difficult days, heck, even through difficult years.

We don't choose our families of origin, and we certainly can't change them.  We don't choose our gender, and barring an extraordinary procedure, we can't change it.  There's just a lot of life that involves playing the hand we're dealt.

But marrying each other was a choice, and we could change that at anytime.

Yet we don't.  Even when it doesn't look like we want it to.  We stay.  We work on it.  We say I'm sorry.  We vow to do better next time.

I love that.  I love knowing you don't have to be married to me, but you choose to be.  It feels good to be chosen.  It feels really good knowing I've been chosen the last 4,019 days.

I made a really good choice on October 21, 2000. 

{April 2011}