Yes, it's quite amazing to me, we have been married for 15 years today! We both think it feels more like six. Yet somehow it's been more than double that!
We really only have one tradition on our anniversary, we have done it since our very first anniversary and that is to look back on the last year and each come up with our top five favorite events. We used to do the five best and five worst events of the past year but that got ugly so now we just focus on the positive. :) I wish for anything that I would have recorded these over the years because I am sure they would bring back such great memories that would make us laugh now or maybe cry. Interestingly enough often our favorite events have been some of the hardest, like in '99 when we both listed Steve's plane crash or in '07 when we both cried and talked about finding out we would never have our own biological child. Somehow, those really hard events end up being the best because they always bring us closer together. Last year of course we both listed Zad as our top favorite event, this year I'm sure it will be Ike.
We laid in bed last night reminiscing about how we started out; a car with an oil leak and dead starter that we push started in our wedding clothes at the Buttes on our wedding night after we repeatedly turned down the valet service. The apartment we moved into in Rexburg, ID that was over a dentist office and dance club (only in Rexburg) that cost us $235/month, furnished. That meant a double bed that was broken so bad on one side that usually one of us had fallen out of it by the morning at least once and a loveseat with no legs and so low to the ground that Steve's knees were in his chest when he sat down. The bathtub/shower would leak down to the dentist office which meant that one morning we were told we could not use our bathroom after 9am anymore because it disturbed the patients below. On Friday and Saturday nights the floor would vibrate from the music of the dance club and we watched the OJ Simpson trial wrap up on our 15 inch TV. I remember coming home from class and seeing boxes outside our door filled with china and crystal people had sent as wedding gifts and thinking that somehow those things didn't belong in our 350 square foot ghetto apartment. Thank goodness we only lived there a month before we moved into the government housing of Rexburg. It actually was a huge step up.
Somehow, here we are 15 years later in a comfortable, quiet home with comfortable furniture, trucks that run well, two college degrees, two secure jobs, and two little boys that look anything but like us! :) We are so blessed and I am so blessed to have had Steve for this whole journey. There is no one I would have rather been with.
Steve is still all the wonderful things he was to me back then only better now. He still tells me he loves me multiple times a day, still pulls me in for big giant bear hugs and long kisses, he still notices any changes I've made to my hair or anything else and almost always loves it, he still whistles when I dress up nice and still loves me with no makeup and in work clothes. He still makes delicious meals every Sunday and helps out around the house with dishes or laundry or whatever he sees that needs to be done. Although what he sees and what I see are a little different..... :)
He still encourages me with anything I want to do and will research or help me find ways to be successful. He still prays with me night and morning, reads scriptures with me, dances with me in the kitchen, somehow gets me to laugh when I'm upset, and holds me when I cry. He still tells me I'm the best thing that has ever happened to him. I love him so much, but who wouldn't?
I have a doctor that has taken care of me for about 13 years; we first met when I was really sick at 21 and Steve and I had only been married a couple years. Every time he sees me he asks how Steve is and every time I say, "He's the best." One time Dr. Shahon said, "You always say that, he really is the best in your eyes isn't he?" Yes, yes he is.
The first time I became really ill after we were married, we lived in Mesa in a third floor apartment and I was so weak that I couldn't barely make it to the bathroom. He would carry me up and down those stairs for days until I was strong enough again. It was incredibly humbling at age 21; only two weeks before I had run in my first 5K race.
What an amazing 15 years we have had! For all these reasons and a million more I love you Steve, thank you for the happiest years of my life!
