Tuesday marked four and a half years of marriage for Josh and me. We usually only remember the years (oh yes, we've reached that point), but I remembered on this day. I'm amazed we've been married that long. It should seem much longer, considering all the moves and jobs and so on.
We were in our last semester of college. Both of us were a bit chubby despite the fact that Josh was getting up early in the cold every morning to work out at the student union gym, and I was taking dance classes four days a week (I needed three more hours to graduate, and my adviser told me I couldn't take any more English classes). Looking back, the steady diet of grilled hot dogs, Ruffles, and ranch dip and the regular McAlisters soup and spud together in the solarium while we watched the snow explain all that, but at the time, I just could not figure out why none of my pants fit.
I wore a champagne lace dress, and Josh wore a matching tie with his suit. The Charlotte courthouse was huge and beautiful. Mom lent me her black velvet coat. Our judge was disheveled and hadn't zipped his fly. I barely paid attention to the vows because I was trying to figure out the grammatically correct response ("I do" was definitely not it. I said, "Yes."). I was having horrible pain which I would continue having for a year until I found out it was endometriosis.
I don't remember what I ate at supper, but it's in my journal. Melissa and I shared macaroni and goat cheese, and most of us had ice cream and triangular shortbread cookies in little bowls. I thought of the word husband and how it now applied to Josh, and no one could avoid acknowledging it.
Now, our son is due to appear in six weeks. We've made a slow crawl east. We've had rough months and bad times--some that weren't our fault and some that were. Josh is next to me, watching Mystery Science Theater. A cat is snoring. My belly is quivering and morphing with an impossible little creature. I believe more firmly than I did four and a half years ago that marrying Josh is the best choice I ever made.
beautiful!
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