10 Things About 10 Years

About this time ten years ago today, I awoke to a ringing phone. Which immediately started ringing again as soon as it stopped the first time. When I finally stumbled to the phone, it was the woman who made my wedding cake, telling me that she’d forgotten she had an appointment that day and so someone had to come pick up the cake RIGHT THEN. My parents and grandparents were nowhere to be found (turned out they were at the historical house where I was getting married that afternoon setting everything up) so I had to wake up The Soon-to-be Husband so we could rush over there to rescue our cake.

It was just the beginning of a long string of accidents, forgotten things (like, um, THE WEDDING RINGS–thankfully I realized that the person who I had specifically told to remember to get them had left them sitting in the place I put them), and being late, late, late. The Husband and I were a few minutes late to our own wedding. Good thing you can’t start a wedding without the bride and groom.

And so, today to celebrate our tenth anniversary, here are ten things about making it to ten years:

1. Laugh. A lot. You know what? The honeymoon phase fades. Real life sets in. But keeping your sense of humor will get you through a lot of rough patches. I kept my sense of humor on our wedding day when my great-grandmother, an ordained minister who was marrying us, yelled out, “CAN WE HAVE THE MUSIC PLEASE???” when our song didn’t start during the ceremony like it was supposed to. And I’ve reminded myself ever since then to just laugh when things start going crazy.

2. Be each other’s biggest fans. The whole time I was struggling to get published, The Husband never doubted that I would one day see my books on a store’s shelf. He decided earlier this year that he wanted to go back to school and get a degree in computer networking, and so I’ve been there every day making sure he doesn’t slack off on his assignments when he’s just not feeling motivated to study.

3. Be best friends. The theme to our wedding, if you can call it that, was the phrase, “This day I will marry my friend–the one I laugh with, live for, dream with, love.” It was on our invitations, napkins, programs, etc. We’re best friends and I do tell him everything. I trust him with all my secrets.

4. Laugh. Really. Did you notice the “laugh with” part of the phrase in #3?

5. Be silly. Life is too crazy to take too seriously. Let things go and be silly sometimes. The Husband and I have our own secret handshake, which we do to celebrate life’s small victories (such as getting a correct order from Taco Bell, always a miracle) or just to make each other laugh.

6. Never stop learning new things about each other. Even after twelve and a half years together, ten years married, I still find out new things about him and I discover a story about my own past that he hasn’t yet heard.

7. Have a few separate interests. You’ll probably drive each other crazy if you’re together 100% of every day. He likes fishing. I like scrapbooking. We get away from each other for a little while so that we’ll have new stories to tell later.

8. Marry someone who is nice to animals, children, and the elderly. You can tell a lot about what a person is like inside by how they treat those that are smaller or weaker than they are.

9. Don’t stop making plans for all the things you want to do together. Even if you can’t afford to right now. Keep having dreams that tie the two of you together.

10. Just keep laughing.