10 Years...

Today is our 10th wedding anniversary.  Seems "big," doesn't it?  Funny that I forgot until I read my mom's "Happy Anniversary!!" email this morning.  I mean, I didn't forget-forget but I also didn't remember-remember.  ;)  I tell Chris all the time that it doesn't really matter what day we got married-- or the year, which I can never recall-- because we're in this forever.  (And before my mom tells me that I should be better about celebrating properly and buying gifts, we DID go to San Francisco this summer to celebrate this big milestone and it was heavenly!)

Anyway, to Chris...

When we got married ten years ago today, I really had no idea what I was getting into.  No idea about real Army life and the packing and moving and relocating and saying goodbye to family and meeting new friends and saying goodbye to old ones and starting all over.   Or what it would feel like to say goodbye to you with a 10-day old baby in my hands as you left for Iraq for his entire first year.  Or what it would feel like to say goodbye to you two weeks after moving here with 3 crazy boys in tow when you left for Afghanistan.  Or what it felt like to welcome you home both times.  Or how I really can miss you while you are at work.  (I do!)  And how my heart still skips a beat when you walk in the door wearing your uniform.  I love the life we've made together these past ten years.  Our boys were hand-picked for us and there will never be enough words or time for me to tell you how much I love them.  I love the incredible friends we've made along the way and how they have become family.   I love that you provide for us, take care of us, and love us unconditionally.  You are honest, loyal, and brave and the boys are so very lucky to have you as their father.  I love that there is no where else you'd rather be than next to me.
Everything and always,
b.