9 years

We have been married for 9 years today, and 14 years altogether. What a surreal and fun ride it has been! Marriage is undoubtedly hard work - it takes a lot of patience (with each other and the ride we are both on), consistent communication, and most of all, trust - which we worked hard to maintain. It's not always pretty...we have some days (or even weeks) where we are simply off with each other; there are sometimes unspoken resentments or misunderstandings, and there have been too many times where medical life or parenthood takes us over completely. It takes a lot of work to stay connected through those waves and even more to try to find each other again in the maze called life.

In the last 9 years of marriage, we went through Z's 4 years of medical school, 6 years of residency, 1 year of fellowship, which resulted in 3 big moves and brought 2 dogs and 1 child into our lives. We navigated through buying a house, the ongoing pandemic (especially with Z being in healthcare), traveling all over the country for job interviews, and ultimately me choosing to quit my job to seek some balance that our family desperately needed. And while I may have shaken up here and then, he always held everything together.

While marriage takes lots of effort on both ends, especially when the medical life steers our ship a little too much sometimes, I must recognize just how much I lucked out in having Z as my life companion. He is kind, unbelievably patient, steady (unlike me, who can get pretty dramatic quickly), observant, and invisibly thoughtful. He forces me to care about my well-being and reminds me how good of a mom I am when I can't see it in myself at the time. He fills in my weakness and complements my personality. For someone who didn't have a lot of relationship experience (he was my only boyfriend in life...haha), I'd say that I was pretty dang lucky.

Never did I imagine meeting my lifelong partner at a Halloween party in my college sophomore year, but it sure has been exciting. And as we try to settle down more now in our new home in Texas, I look forward to riding more waves and living life together.

So, dear hubby - cheers to our marriage, and let's celebrate soon (since your mom can babysit)! Love you to the moon and back. Thanks for always having my back. ♥