Friday Five: Years of Marriage

Marriage is a lot of things, but when I think of how I would describe it, I most often think of a road trip. We all know no matter what external forces come up, a road trip is always only as good as the people on the trip make it. This is an especially fitting analogy as today is our fifth wedding anniversary and we are currently on the second to last day of a 10 day road trip through the the middle of a lot of nowheres with shoddy cell service. An appropriate test for a marriage, yes?

Relationships are work, which I wish they would tell you more about in books and movies instead of the gooey love stories they feed young girls who grow up thinking wonderful relationships just happen effortlessly to them, and the BS they feed young boys about how they just need to fix and save the day and be strong. Things in relationships are freaking hard sometimes, and it's okay to admit that. No person is perfect, so why would a relationship between two people be perfect?

MFD and I met in seventh grade and have been friends for 25 years. This month marks 13 years of us being a couple, 12 of which have been cohabitation years. And today? Today is our fifth wedding anniversary. We've had wonderful days that we wished would last forever and terrible days we couldn't wait for the end of; days where we felt invincible together, and days when we felt we couldn't scream loud enough at each other; days when our marriage felt like a tough old rock bridge and days when it felt like a chaotic landslide. Every time that was good and every time that was bad over the past 13 years together, we chose to stay in the car. We're still on the road. This is the truest quote I have ever come across about long term relationships:

The past 12 months have been more of a celebration of love, trust, and partnership and less of a need for tolerance and tenacity. We know that could be reversed next year of course, so we're enjoying it while it lasts in this order. A collage of the past 12 months:  (click on this to see last year).

1) September - our anniversary last year; 2) October - Halloween night; 3) November - Thanksgiving day in North Woods 4) December - Castaway Cay in the Bahamas; 5) January - New Year's Day to you guys, Mummer's Day to Philadelphia; 6) February - snowed in at home; 7) March - On my birthday in Niagara Falls, Canada; 8) April - Off to celebrate the marriage of friends; 9) May - Derby Day; 10) June - Swansboro, NC; 11) July - Stone Harbor, NJ; 12) August - Lake Chrisann 

Happy anniversary to us - we are both a work in progress, as people and as a couple. Here's to another year of growing together, keeping it real, having each other's backs, seeing the world, working hard for what we want and being grateful for what we have, living in the present, making dreams come true, and being in love.

p.s happy birthday to one of our BFFs, Amanda!

I am travelling, please forgive delayed replies to comments.