Scattered Jules

Yesterday was my nineteenth anniversary. It feels weird to think I’ve been married that long. I don’t feel old enough to have been married NINETEEN YEARS, and yet, I have a hard time remembering life before Mr. Wright—though that might have something to do with the fact that I went on my first date with Mr. Wright when I was sixteen-ish. I’ve learned a few things in the years of being married and decided to share nineteen things about being married I’ve learned in my nineteen years of actually being married.

1. Romance is more about friendship and fun than it is about roses and candlelight
2. Kicking a man under the table to get him to shut up is useless when he just loudly asks, “Why are you kicking me?” afterward.
3. The three syllables I’m sorry are as important as the three syllables I love you.
4. Mr. Wright and I must have a good mix of genetics, because our kids are beautiful, brilliant demigods.
5. There is nothing sexier than finding your husband in the middle of the night trying to balance a bottle, a baby, and a book as he reads the scriptures to your newborn.
6. Speaking well of each other inspires the other to live up to the reputation you’ve given them.
7. I feel safer when he’s with me.
8. I’m lost without him—and I don’t mean that in a metaphoric sense. I really mean I’m lost without him. I have never been good with directions, and he has a grid in his head at all times.
9. I’m a complete grouchy monster of a female when I am tired.
10. Mr. Wright is a complete grouchy monster of a male when he is hungry.
11. We are pure evil when I’m tired and he’s hungry at the same time.
12. Little things make a big difference. I love that he makes Crème brulee for me—that I hardly ever have to touch a gas handle because he tries to keep my car full of gas for me—that he laughs with me. That he never complains when I call him for directions when I’m on the road and lost.
13. No one can chase a dream alone. No one can climb to success without someone else holding the ladder for them. I would not be a published author without his support, belief, and help.
14. It’s funny when you dump a bucket of ice water over the curtain on a man taking a shower.
15. It’s not so funny when he gets you back, and it’s hard to understand why he’s laughing when he should be apologizing.
16. Listening to my husband explain physics, math, verb conjugation, the golden rule . . . to our children is some of the best noise I’ve ever heard.
17. True love is sticking around when things are bad, so you’re still there when things get good again.
18. I didn’t know what people were talking about when I was a teenager in love—when they would say I didn’t really know what love was. Nineteen years later when I love him more today than yesterday and more yesterday than the day before that . . . I think I am finally understanding.
19. Growing up with him was fun, exciting, exhilarating. Growing old with him is perfect.

Happy Anniversary, Mr. Wright. I love you.