Life with Sweet Peaches

I have to start this post saying that I just typed the best.post.ever about our anniversary and it literally disappeared and then I yelled at Jim while he was helping me find it. It doesn’t exist and this post just won’t be the same. Me + Technology = love/hate relationship.

Six years ago, Jim and I exchanged vows on an incredibly pleasant summer day in North Carolina. Our wedding day remains one of the BEST days ever, and every day since, I have been so grateful to have Jim as my husband.

Is it always rainbows and butterflies? Well, no.

But have I ever doubted our relationship? Never.

Even though Jim and I are different in practically every way, our end goal is the same. We simply want to be content and with each other and be good parents and generous people. Even though our approaches differ drastically, we end up in the same spot most of the time, even though it might take one of us longer to get there. Think of it like Google Maps – when you hit “Get Directions,” you might get three different maps, right? While Jim and I would never, ever choose the same map, we still get to the end destination. The trick is remembering to let each other lead every once in a while and travel together, instead of separately.

The traditional gifts for the sixth anniversary are iron and sweets. I started doing some research a few months ago, and do you realize how creative one must be to find a thoughtful, affordable and maybe useful iron gift? A lot creative. Iron candlesticks, anyone? (One suggestion online was a gym membership, for pumping iron. Hardee-har-har.)

My favorite suggestion by far was to visit the sugarcane fields in Maui.

Jim’s response? We did that one six years too early. (See, he always makes me laugh. Just not always IN the moment.)

Anyway, I was holding out hope and dropping major hints that a weekend away somewhere near an ocean would be lovely and perfectly acceptable. My parents were out of town, so I was secretly hoping Jim had arranged for his parents to come down and keep Molly but then we got an email that his parents were traveling out of the country and I knew we weren’t going anywhere.

I got pretty sick on Tuesday and our anniversary was the farthest thing from my mind. Until today, when I regained some brain activity and my mom called to offer to watch Molly so Jim and I could go out to eat. But, Jim says, why don’t we wait until you really feel better? I pouted and may have even cried between coughing fits and poor Jim didn’t know what to do because really, hadn’t I just spent the better part of the day in bed?

When Molly woke up from up her nap (yes, a nap! The girl has been so sweet to her sick mama.), I heard Jim promise her ice cream. I pulled on some shorts, a tank top and flip flops to join them for half a piece of pizza and a trip to DQ (at which I turned down any ice cream. Told you I was sick!) and by the time we got home, I was pretty exhausted and could barely read Molly a bedtime story.

As our kid was licking the last of the chocolate ice cream out of the plastic bowl, I looked over her head and smiled at Jim. “She’s the best of both us, isn’t she?,” I marveled with pride. While grand gestures and trips and nicely wrapped packages entice me, I wouldn’t trade the life we’ve created for all the sugar in Maui

After Jim tucked Molly in, I said to him, “You were right. A nice dinner out would have been no fun tonight.”

And that, my dear, is a gift that lasts forever. Or, as long as the internet at least!

Jim, thank you for being a supportive, adoring and generous husband to me and father to Molly. You are a wonderful role model for what our daughter should look for in a partner, and I pray every day that she is as lucky in love as we are. I am infinitely grateful for you and our relationship, even if I have strange ways of showing it. Like yelling at you when you’re just trying to help. xoxo, H.