18 years...That's Amore!

Yesterday, Dennis and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary!

This was our picture that was in our wedding announcement. We were so young and so excited about what was in store for us! We looked forward with anticipation to our wedding, finishing school, buying a home, careers, callings, and kids, ... especially kids. We had plans, but they were only just plans - nothing concrete, except each other.

And that was all we needed to get started.

Now, 18 years later, there is so much that is set in stone. Dennis well settled into his career, we are well settled into our home, and our family is here and set. 6 boys. Who would have thought?

And our exciting, giddy, make-my-heart-go-pitter-patter, the-world-is-our-oyster love has settled into something else, too - a deeper love that can only come from sharing a life, with all of its ups and downs, together, loving and working together for a common purpose - from counting on each other to make it all work. It is a comfortable kind of love that is intertwined with so much more than a love for each other. It includes with it a love for my children, and family, my home, and every memory that we have created together - I wouldn't trade it for anything.

(But he can still make my heart go pitter-patter. Definitely!)

We still can look forward with anticipation and excitement, but now we can do it from a nice settled vantage point, and have something to look back on as well. I like the view from up here just fine.

You know, I moved out of my parents' home when I was 18, which means I have lived with Dennis for just as long as I had lived with my own parents. Amazing.

Yesterday, on our anniversary, we spent most of the day just working on stuff around the house. I had my responsibilities to take care of, and he had his. We didn't see a whole lot of each other except for maybe a "Happy Anniversary, honey" and a kiss as we passed now and then in the hallway. But when the evening came we got all gussied up, and went on a date - just the two of us, just the way it all started.

We went to Amore Ristorante. We had never been before. It was a perfect choice! The food was wonderful and the atmosphere was so romantic. It brought us back to our trip to Italy together, which brought us back to our trip to France together, which reminded us of all the trips we have taken together, and trips we have taken with our kids, and other things we have done together - 18 years worth of memories.

One funny thing I noticed quite a while back is how different Dennis and I are when it comes to anniversaries. I tend to use that time to think about our past and all we have done while Dennis always uses that time to look forward to what the future will bring. I ask "What were we doing 18 years ago?" and he asks "Where will we be 18 years from now?" For him, and anniversary is a time to measure how far we have come and where we are compared to where we are going. I just like to reminisce.

We are so different like that in so many ways, and most of them I had no idea about until well after we were married. But I think that's what makes us great together - we round each other out quite nicely, and we have more to offer our children that way.

Happy Anniversary, Dennis!

Here's to the last 18 wonderful years...

and to the next 18...

and to all the years and years after that!

I LOVE YOU!