5 Years of marriage down, forever to go.

 We had so much fun last weekend.  Kevin took off Friday and we went down to drop Dravyn off with my aunt and celebrated our anniversary a week early.  It was a little weird in Joplin that night, almost like a ghost town.  We had ate lunch and gone to a bunch of stores including Bed Bath & Beyond where we may or may not have spent several minutes testing out the massage chairs.  Then we went to eat at Tokyo Steak and Sushi, which was delicious and a great experience, where the people at the hibachi with us were talking about weather and possible tornadoes.  We went to Best Buy and checked the weather on the computer, deciding maybe we should head to the hotel.  As we were driving down Rangeline the sirens went off.  It  initiated a long period of waiting down in the lobby with everyone in the hotel, which was really kind of amusing due to the fact that apparently drinking at the bar became a game to some of the other guests.  Eventually the warning was expired and Kevin and I went to Applebee's across the street for dessert.

The whole experience was a reminder of our honeymoon.  That time, 5 years ago we sat in an Applebee's across the street from our hotel and saw all the weather watches and warnings, both storm and tornado, pop up on the television in the corner as we enjoyed desert and perhaps a pretty drink for me.  I feel so lucky for being married to my favorite person on earth.  He is amazingly sweet, funny, supportive, and protective.  He balances my short temper and and makes me feel so very very loved every day of my life.

Things have not turned out the way we wanted, or even expected, and there have been some stressful times in our marriage.  But always the good has outweighed the bad.  At our wedding we were new college graduates, 20 and 21 years old.  Now we are 5 years older, I have graduated from college a third time, Kevin has been working at the same place for 3 years now, and we are parents to a wonderfully beautiful yet trying toddler daughter.  I have loved these last 5 years and can't wait to see what our story looks like when we celebrate our 50th anniversary.