Happy Anniversary!

Without any fanfare, our eleventh wedding anniversary passed yesterday. I am a very nostalgic kind of guy, so the fact that we didn't do anything to commemorate it bothers me, a little. We just neither one had the energy, nor did we feel like fighting the Saturday evening crowds for a meal out. We usually dust off our wedding video and watch it on our anniversary, but we didn't even do that. It's funny, when we were newlyweds, we dreamed that we might take a cruise to commemorate our tenth anniversary. Last year, to mark our tenth, we, instead, dropped our two boys at a friend's house and went to a Chinese buffet and Wal-Mart. At that dinner, we mostly talked about our kids... the two we already had and a little girl in China who, a few months earlier, had captured our hearts. A year later, all six of us hung out and watched a classic movie together. I, snuggling on the couch with that little girl from China, and Jen snuggling in the chair with a little boy that wasn't even on our radar screen a year ago. Yes, I should date my wife more, but last night, we skipped the fanfare to do one of our favorite things... don an old pair of sweats and spend a cool November evening cozied up with our four favorite kids.

For those who didn't know us then, we were married on a cold, wet, dreary November afternoon. We had a fairly simple and traditional ceremony, with light refreshments and cake following. Nothing really fancy, but that's the way we wanted it. My favorite thing to remember about that day was how breathtakingly beautiful my bride was when she walked down the aisle, on the arm of her father, in the most stunning wedding dress I had and have ever seen. Our biggest splurge was the photographer... we were only planning to do this once and we wanted nice pictures to remember it. We spent our honeymoon in a log cabin in the Smoky Mountains, above Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

In eleven years, we've had our share of highs and lows. I was recently unemployed at the time of our wedding, as I am today. We are both stubborn first-borns, so we've had our share of disputes and disagreements. I probably don't show her or tell her enough, but through the ups and downs, she is my best friend and I love her dearly.

Jen, thank you for being my faithful wife, my best friend, and a great mother to my four beautiful babies. I love you!

THEN

NOW