Fourteen

This week (on Wednesday to be precise) is my fourteenth wedding anniversary with DH.

I think (but am too lazy to check) that in previous years, I blogged a whole lot of lovey dovey shmoopy stuff about my DH, which brought a tear to his eye and further cemented my reputation as "most awesome wife ever." (Although admittedly, my other, ahem, "skills" might have done that for me.) (Minds out of the gutter, people, I'm talking about my cooking skills, of course.)(No I'm not.)(But you knew that.)(Oh shit my in-laws read this blog. Hi MIL AND FIL!)(*embarrassed chuckle*)

ANYWAY.

So. I thought about writing yet another "ode to the most tolerant man ever" but instead I'm going to write a list of stuff my DH does which makes me love him a little bit more every day. This in turn is going to prove that thing about women being far more attracted to the things guys do which are NOT sexy which make a good marriage last.

DH, I really love and appreciate you. But I especially love these things about you:

1. When you get out of bed (or leave the house) in the freezing cold to do yet one more irritating small job which I am too lazy and comfortable to do. Turn off the heater, pick up some milk, put on a load of laundry, put the dog out, whatever. Thank you for enduring my demands in the middle of the cold, cold night.

2. That you bring me The Epicure (foodie section of our newspaper) every single Tuesday without fail, and if perchance you DO fail, you look a little sheepish about it.

3. That you do my cake deliveries and ingredient pick ups all over town, at inconvenient times, on inconvenient days, and you don't complain about it. Actually, you've even admitted you enjoy it, which pretty much makes your halo impermeable to denting or rusting.

4. You insist on a massive hug and a kiss every single time you walk in the door - and when I look all grumpy and say, "Seriously! can I just please finish what I am doing for once?" - you stand there and patiently wait, but won't do anything else until you get your due.

5. That after 14 years of marriage, we are as sickeningly lovey dovey touchy feely shmoopy as ever. Maybe more so. And you see nothing wrong with a quick grope in the middle of a supermarket. It makes me feel loved and beautiful, and I'm grateful (much as I protest with a "in the supermarket? Really?!").

6. You tell me I'm beautiful and you MEAN it, it's not just words. That you say it when I have bad hair, bad breath, and am wearing saggy unflattering clothes and still mean it...well, see above comment about halos.

7. You give an honest (but diplomatic) opinion about things, even when you think I'm wrong (which never happens, naturally) or when you really think my ass does look big in something.

8. You're helpful with everything from the kids to the dishes to the business to satisfying my craving for popcorn at midnight. And you rarely complain about it - although if internally you were cursing me, I'd totally think that was justified. Sometimes, I'm just a seriously demanding pain in the ass.

9. That you're a far better listener than you are a fighter, so we are incapable of having an actual argument about anything. So I stand there and wail like a banshee over whatever is currently pissing me off about you, and you stand there and look kinda sad and hangdog (which pisses me off even more, of course) and the more I talk, the more you listen. So eventually all our one-sided fights end up with me crying and saying, "but it's because I really, really love you!!" (wail, wail, wail) or both of us giggling like morons through our (often shared) tears and then kissing a lot to make up for the fight we didn't really just have.

10. That you don't have a nickname for me other than just "love"....and that it sticks even when we are irritated. Everything we say, from, "Love, can you take my pants to the drycleaners?" to "Seriously, love, how freaking hard is it to finish the dishes in one go?" and lots more in between - I am reminded of how much I am loved just by you talking to me. Simple and yet apt and way better than "Cuddlyumpkins Sweetie Bear Honey Pie."

and

11. That all those people who said we were meant to be together were totally right - and that you were brave enough to believe that I really would stay with you as I promised. At the time I found it very odd that not a single person objected to our being together - never mind the age gap thing, the distance thing, the whole too-young-to-get-married thing - NOT ONE person I know (not even my parents, eventually) thought us getting married was a bad idea. I love that every single day, we affirm not only to ourselves but also to those who see us - that sometimes the most unlikely matches are the best matched of all.

Happy Anniversary my love. Now go make me some popcorn. And don't burn it. I hate it when you burn it!