Nine-i-versary

This was us - Curtis and me - on April 22nd, 2000. Nine years ago. Don't I look like I'm afraid he's going to bite me or something?

It wasn't that. Those doe eyes were the product of my true, deep, hopeless love for this man. A love that, despite its fair share of trials, has persisted through two years of dating and nine more of marriage ... and gotten stronger with time.

Yeah, I know, you're probably fighting the urge to hurl - or at the very least, click the little red "X" in the corner of your screen. But it's my anniversary. There will be no frumpiness, as I attempt to remind my husband that I'm still the girl he married, sooo ... I have to have something to write about! And besides, damn it, I'm proud. I wish I could have taken an anonymous poll at my wedding, when I was a wee lass of just 19 years old: "Do you think they'll last more than six months? Check yes or no." I mean, who looks at such a young couple and can realistically envision them growing old together? Stereotypical or not, the perception of young love is that it's doomed to fizzle out just as quickly and passionately as it ignited.

But here we are. Sometimes the flame flickers low, sometimes it flares brightly, but we've kept it burning. Curtis is still the first person I run to when something goes wrong, still the first person I want to share my triumphs with. And I get butterflies in my stomach when I hear that he's home from work.*


*Plus he's seen my body go from smokin' to sagging, watched me fatly incubate and subsequently squeeze out two babies, and has been intimately acquainted with most of my bodily functions - and he still sticks around (and even wants to sleep with me!). You've got to love a man who doesn't turn tail and run when you poo on the birthing table, y'know? Sweet romance. :)


This is what we look like today, in all our "30-is-the-new-20" splendor:

We're no longer the two googly kids in the first picture. Now, not only are we Mr. and Mrs. Templeton - we're Mommy and Daddy. Each passing year weaves new and beautiful threads into the tapestry of our life together, and I love how it looks so far.