Well, it’s Thursday again, and that must mean I’m thankful.
Actually, I should amend that, because lately I’ve been paying a little more attention to being thankful all the time. However, today is the day I actually post about thankfulness.
Yesterday was my anniversary. I have now been married to DH for 14 years; we’ve been together for almost 16. That means a lot of things, but one that keeps coming to mind is that in just four more years, I will have spent more of my life with DH than I spent without him. (I was 20 when we met.) I think that’s pretty amazingly cool, I must confess.
It hasn’t always been easy. That’s sort of a no-brainer. Marriage isn’t easy; but then, life isn’t easy, and marriage is part of life. So if you really think about it, the hard parts are going to be there whether you’re married or not. They’ll just be different hard parts.
I have learned so much from this man that I couldn’t begin to put it into words. (But you know me, that never stops me from trying.) I’ve learned about love and acceptance and self-sufficiency and caring for myself and for other people. He helped me to grow up and be a decent person simply by assuming that I would.
He’s my reality-check and my anchor, and he accepts without criticism my tendency to float away into dreams and intricate philosophical concepts. He is a wonderful provider and father to my children, and partner and friend to me. He’s no-nonsense and down to earth, and funny as hell in a smartass sort of way. He has loved me through the ups and downs of my depression and anxiety, my battles with my weight and the attendant health issues, and more rants about job stress and other frustrations than I can count.
Okay, I suppose he’s not perfect. Well, neither am I, which (in a quantum sort of way) makes him absolutely perfect – for me. Sixteen years ago, I somehow sensed that and my certainty on that count – through all the ups and downs – has never wavered. You know how some conversations stick in your brain forever? I remember one that occurred when we’d been dating for about six months and were already engaged. We were standing in my mother’s hallway, and I think we’d just finished having a fairly spectacular argument about who-knows-what. He told me he wasn’t perfect, and I said, “I know. But you’re perfect for me.”
No one ever knows what the future holds, but I do know this: I was right. And come what may, I will always know that I made the right choice. And today, I am thankful for that choice, and everything that has come from it, because I am a better person today. And so, so blessed.
I’ll leave you with a picture of my “anniversary flowers” – every year, DH sends me one rose for every year we’ve been married. Appropriately enough, in the background is my “Gratitude Board”.
And a song:
My tea’s gone cold, I’m wondering why
I got out of bed at all
The morning rain clouds up my window
and I can’t see at all
And even if I could it’d all be grey,
but your picture on my wall
It reminds me that it’s not so bad,
it’s not so bad
I drank too much last night, got bills to pay,
my head just feels in pain
I missed the bus and there’ll be hell today,
I’m late for work again
And even if I’m there, they’ll all imply
that I might not last the day
And then you call me and it’s not so bad,
it’s not so bad and
I want to thank you
for giving me the best day of my life
Oh just to be with you
is having the best day of my life
Push the door, I’m home at last
and I’m soaking through and through
Then you hand me a towel
and all I see is you
And even if my house falls down,
I wouldn’t have a clue
Because you’re near me and
I want to thank you
for giving me the best day of my life
Oh just to be with you
is having the best day of my life
Have a wonderful day, with much to be thankful for!
The Diet Book 