Stephanie Jankowski
Blogger at WhenCrazyMeetsExhaustion.com | Mom
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10 years, 521 weeks, 3,650 days.

A decade.

I’m not sure what a decade of marriage looks like anywhere else, but around here, it looks a lot like

• three kids and two dogs
• a strict family budget ohmygod relax
• dinnertime trivia
• an obsessively landscaped lawn
• dog hair all over the floors
• full calendars and fuller to-do lists
• glitches in communication
• a lot of laughter
• tons of hugs
• yelling
• prayers
• forgetting
• a limit on screen time we’re really bad at enforcing
• losing patience
• patience lost
• monthly rants about Comcast’s thievery
• quiet time in between the kids falling asleep and us collapsing
• frustrations
• change that better accommodates a family of 5
• feeling conflicted between wanting to press fast forward, rewind, or pause
• worrying we’ll never catch up
• a happy house
• a commitment to constant improvement
• LAUNDRY
• support
• side by side trimmings, you of your ear hair, me of my maternal mustache
• you narrating car rides with “old faithful” stories: a weeping willow’s destructive root system and the math behind bridge construction
• me rolling my eyes yet inwardly grateful for the security that comes from old faithfuls
• three claps for beach snacks
• Rolling Stones vs. Justin Timberlake turned “Annie and Elsie” vs. the Jesus CD the kids sing along to and it’s ADORABLE
• Caribbean turned Delaware
• straight flights turned cramped vans
• baseball
• cholesterol
• colonoscopies
• more laughter because we’re old
• losses
• gains
• trying

There’s soooo much trying in marriage, isn’t there? Trying times, trying to keep it together, trying to be together while trying to be separate, trying to be the best, trying just not to suck, trying to communicate, trying to be patient, trying to remember, trying to remember why we want to remember.

But we keep trying. Year after year, we keep trying.

Let’s keep trying, okay? Let’s not give up even when it seems easier, and let’s promise to help each other up even if–especially if–we’ve knocked the other down. Marriage is work. It’s hard work. A decade of working to make it work deserves to be acknowledged. Celebrated! Most definitely appreciated. And I appreciate you, us, our family. (WE MADE A FAMILY! Is that fact still remarkable to you, too?)

10 years, 521 weeks, 3,650 days.

A decade.

So here’s to another decade of trying, trimming, and loving. Because even when we don’t say it, even when we don’t think we feel it, the love is there. And there’s no one I’d rather love for another 10 years, 521 weeks, and 3,650 days than you. Happy Anniversary!

This post was originally posted at WhenCrazyMeetsExhaustion.com on 7/29/2016.

About Stephanie Jankowski

English teacher by trade, smack talker by nature, Stephanie Jankowski loves words and has a knack for finding the funny in everyday life. She blogs at WhenCrazyMeetsExhaustion.com, and puts the fun in dysfunctional on her Facebook page and on Twitter.

View all posts by Stephanie Jankowski here.

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