Watching The Man Work

I'm sitting across the table from my husband who is working on his day job stuff and wondering about his t-shirt: i love my wife. Was that a getting-dressed-in-the-dark choice or a deliberate decision? Seeing as how eighteen years ago today we were driving seven hundred miles to my hometown to get married, I'll choose to call it a deliberate decision. Of course, that was back when we actually had money and no kids.

And I drove a Mustang. Good times.

We love to tell the story of how we met. How two people from two different states met up in yet another state is interesting enough... add into that the fact that I went through basic training with his ex-girlfriend adds another twist. And the part where I was assigned to an Air Force base that was named what my eventual married name would be? Crazy.

Oh, and he was dating the girl I was replacing at my duty station. Guess I took over in more ways than one.

Yeah, I know. It sounds kind of twisted and maybe a bit devious on my part, but rest assured, all these things came to light after the fact. I will never forget the day I was just trying to make conversation with this southern guy that I hardly liked and dropped a name or two about my early training. His jaw hit the floor and we hit it off. Thirty-some days later I asked him to marry me.

Three times.
He finally said yes.
I'm persistent like that.

And now he sits across from me scratching his head in thought while punching numbers on a calculator. We've come quite a little ways from having all that money and no kids. The Mustang only lives in pictures now while a minivan takes up space on the driveway. When we finally do have a few extra dollars to spare, the kids manage to snatch it up for annoying things like braces or doctor visits. The only thing left from our military days are plaques hanging on the wall.

So far I'm liking the life we've managed to pull out of such a short courtship.
In just a few days, we'll officially celebrate that eighteenth year with dinner out.
But I kinda like nights just like this one best.

i love my husband.