Thirteen

I write this while E.A. is reading bedtime stories to our two sons. They are locked into her voice. They fidget a little, but they are with her. I'm trying to think what we were doing 13 years ago. Were we still talking to people at the reception or had we started making the trip to Charlotte? I'm not totally sure. I can tell you that she was breathtakingly beautiful in her wedding gown on that evening. And I can tell you that she is breathtakingly beautiful as she sits on the couch in our sons' room right now.

Thirteen years ago, I could not have anticipated the twists and turns that our lives have taken. Who could? When you get married, you think you know what the future will hold, but you really are just drunk on the wonderfulness of the now. Young love and all of that. I still don't know what the future holds, but I can tell you that I want this woman to be part of it; even more today than when I meant with all my heart then. She is my absolute favorite person in the world and I can't believe how lucky I am that I get to share life with her.

I acutely feel how words are not capturing what I want to say. I could write pages about E.A. I could tell you about her fierce love for her people, her compassion, her creativity, her intelligence, her curiosity, the ways in which she believes in me far more than I believe in myself, the ways in which she loves our children even when they are not very lovable. Pages upon pages, but it would not begin to capture what I see when I look across the room at her.

I am just grateful. Grateful for the late night conversations. Grateful for how she challenges me and pushes me. Grateful for the times she makes me laugh. Grateful for the adventures we go on together. Grateful for how wrestles with her faith and the world around her in such an honest way. Grateful for all of her quirks. Grateful for how she tries her best tell me what's on her mind.

Grateful that I get to see the smile that I just saw as she looked at me. She truly is breathtakingly beautiful; in every sense of the word and in every way. I am so incredibly grateful that I have gotten to spend these last thirteen years with her. I love E.A. with all of my heart and as long as that heart beats, I look forward to spending many, many, many more years with her.