Happy 17th Anniversary!

Dear Superman,

In twenty-eight years of knowing you I can't put my finger on when it began.  Maybe it was the hour and 1/2 phone call you made to me when I was in Paris, and we weren't technically dating at the time. Or it might be due to the fact that on the really cold days, like -42, you'd come pick me up for school, knowing I'd have to walk in the cold if you didn't. Yeah- still not dating during that time.

But I think we already knew.  We weren't entirely ready.  But we knew.

It might have started back in high school, when we went on the church trip to New York City. We stood at the top of the World Trade Center taking night photos of the cars down below. Neither one of us talked and yet we were completely comfortable not filling up the space with needless words.

Perhaps its all the treats you bring me now, just because you know I had a REALLY LONG DAY. Or its how much I love the way you say, we'll find a way, don't worry.  

It could certainly be because of all the spontaneity. Like when you say, Really, Toronto, Canada is not too far to drive to in our little Toyota Prius.   And I discover its not really too far.  Or the time when you first got your job in Idaho and were getting ready to move.  But you said "Stay in graduate school.  We can weather a 9 month separation."  Yeah, we did that too.  

It certainly could be the day you said Idaho isn't working for us anymore.  Lets quit our jobs, buy a small blue house and move back to Minnesota to be closer to our family.  Maybe I'll try photography and see if I can make a go of that.  Um hm.  That's what we did.  It could have been that day.

And the worst day.  The day I called, sobbing, saying this time its not cysts in my breast.  I was wrong.  Its the worst imaginable and I don't know how I am going to do breast cancer.  I'm sorry.  And you say, I'll be right there.  We'll just do it, together, and everything will be okay.

I guess thats the thing, really.  Its not any one of these, but its all of them.  Its how we've woven this tapestry of us.  Through the times we are at our best, and the many more times when we are broken, tired, or weak.  It hasn't mattered. Apart, was just never really meant for us for very long.  I can't think of a time in my life, when it ever really will be either.  

So at some point its just been together.  This story of us.  Its about the 17 years of marriage, the 28 years of knowing each other, the 14 years of Nolan, plus the 12 years of  Colton.  Its the forever I hope to know you, to love you, be with you, and weave together the rest of the story of our life.