The more things change, the more they remain the same....

April 24, 1999 was a warm-ish Spring day filled with sunshine. The Green Mile and Star Wars-The Phantom Menace were topping the box office. Mambo #5, Hit Me Baby One More Time and Genie In A Bottle were topping the charts. My morning was spent in hair and make-up at the Holiday Inn Express in Brandon, SD. Izaak Walton League was the setting for the remainder of the day. Pictures were snapped, vows were exchanged, dancing and celebrating ensued. Ten years ago today, Jason and I were united in wedded bliss. Friends and family surrounded us while we pledged our lives to each other, for better or worse. Over the past ten years, we have seen some worse but mostly better. Thinking back over the past ten years, I realized how many things are different about our lives now. We used to live here with the sewer rats:

Now we live here with the rug rats:

Our primary means of transportation was this cute little sportster:

And now it is this family truckster:

Our free time was often spent with these crazies:
And now the majority of our time is consumed by these goofballs:
Since the day of our nuptials, many things have changed but many have remained exactly the same now as they were then. I still call Jason too many times a day and he still wears the same grey Nike shirt he wore ten years ago. I still really like to hide and jump out to scare Jason and he still really likes to make jokes about pretty much everything. We still love to go out to eat, I still take too long to do my hair and Jason still hollers out "A couple over here!" while gesturing to empty seats near us whenever we go to a movie. I still rock to the Backstreet Boys and can't miss an episode of 90210 and Jason would still choose "Baby Got Back" as his go-to karaoke song (and I would still leave the area while he was singing it).

And then there are the things that have changed and yet remained the same~more like a variation of the original. Our love for Mexican food has not waned but we now frequent Casa Del Rey when 10 years ago, Carlos O'Kellys (ahhh, sweet Carlos O'Kellys) was the fav. Our careers are the same but different also. Jason is still a carpenter but for himself rather than for Lemme and I am still a Group Home Manager but the home I manage is mine and so is the group! Friday nights are spent together just like they were ten years ago but they are spent at home, rather than Homers.

It is into this category I would put my feelings for Jason, exactly the same yet vastly different. One aspect remains the same, I love Jason with all my heart. Being the type of person I am, I find it difficult to feel comfortable, really comfortable, in most situations. With Jason, I am comfortable, really comfortable. I feel safe. I feel secure. And most importantly, I feel happy. Even when I am mad, sad, anxious, overwhelmed or stressed, I feel happy. I know my life is better because Jason is in it. However, I can honestly say, I love him more today than I did on April 24, 1999 and in a more real, substantial way. Everything was so exciting, romantical and also so unfamiliar. It was so much fun planning the wedding, wearing the pretty dress and having the big party but then it was over and the real stuff began. Working together through the career, financial, personal and family highs and lows. Figuring out how our lives, beliefs and personalities really fit together and could mesh. This is not an easy task especially when the meshing personalities include one extremely Type A, emotional, impulsive and whimsical woman and one fairly Type B, laid back, logical and literal man. But here we are ten years later and my love for Jason has grown immeasurably. He balances me, he respects me and he listens to me (not in a "Hey, you need to be home at this time!" or "Take me out for supper tonight." type of listening~although that would be nice too) but in a "I get what you are saying and also what you are not saying" sort of way. We have grown to understand each other, know each other and better work as a team. I am beginning to figure out that at times it is better just to let it go and he knows when to really hang on. On April 24, 1999, I pledged to be Jason's wife until death do us part but really, if pressed, could not envision what the future truly held for us. Now that we have a past, I can truly see our future and I like what I see.

Thank you Jason for being the man that you are, a perfect father for our girls, my rock, my comic relief, my garbage taker outer, my sounding board, my personal handyman, my meal suggester, my level head, my everything. Happy Anniversary!

"Don't marry the person you think you can live with; marry only the individual you think you can't live without."~James C. Dobson