first comes love

then comes marriage.

which for us,  came eight years ago today.

when i think about being married, i think about how many pieces of furniture bryan and i have assembled together. i think about how bryan always knows i mean "palatable" when i say "palpable" and how he makes sure to massage my feet or my back or my neck every day.  i think about how much laughter there is in our home because he and i are, like, the funniest people. ever.

when i think about being married, i think about how every night, bryan has about eighteen inches of sleep space at the veryedge of the bed, with me curled up (and sprawled out) rightnext to him. i think about how no matter the number of times i ask him to put them away nicely, bryan will forever leave his shoes kicked off right in front of the door, and no matter the number of times he tells me it drives him crazy, i will forever chew my nails.

when i think about being married,  i think about how almost every sunday, i have a fashion emergency, and bryan has to help me decide what shoes and necklace to wear with my dress. i think about cooking together and eating together. about sharing cups and forks and food. and i think about how bryan ate banana bread for the first year of our marriage, even though (as it turns out) he hates banana bread.

when i think about being married, i think about how a few months ago, bryan had gotten up at three in the morning to catch a six o'clock flight to go to san francisco for work for the day. he came home close to midnight that night to find sheets and pillows and pajamas and comforters strewn all over the hall, needing to be washed, and me in the bathroom cleaning up summer girl, who had just vomited all over everything in her bed (including herself).

bryan and i tiredly looked at each other and didn't know whether to laugh or cry or just throw in the towel (literally) and go to bed.

when i think about being married, i think about that day.

i think about how the great gift of a good marriage is to laugh together often and cry together sometimes and to take life's cards as they come because no matter who throws up all over themselves after a really long, hard day, you're in this together.

happy anniversary to us.