25 Short Years

I remember being 25. I had a handsome husband and two cute little daughters. In 25 short years, I had grown up to be what I had always wanted to be - A wife and a mom.

I remember having had my drivers liscense for 25 years. I was 41. In 25 years I had become an accomplished driver with very few accidents or tickets. (Good for me.)

Not so long ago I had been graduated from high school for 25 years. Since high school, I had gotten a college degree. I remember all that.

A new 25 just happened. Hero and I have been married 25 years.

Wow.

25 years can seem so long sometimes. Not with this one.

How could I not have been married to Hero forever? (I mean this in a good way.)

We celebrated like we always do. Dinner at home with the kids banished keeping themselves busy somewhere. They are pretty great kids.

Dinner is a colabrative effort. We traditionally have shrimp cocktail, salad, grilled steak, yum potatoes, yum bread and yum dessert (the "yum" means a variation of said "yumness" - we change things up sometimes.)

This year we had dinner by the fireplace. Valentine's Day is consistently a pretty cold day. Fireplaces are warm. And romantic.

One year for our anniversary, Hero made a pretend fireplace, complete with pictures on the mantle. It was one of the most romantic gifts I have ever received. And one of the best. Love that Hero.

Table for two.

(This is our new table.)

We had agreed that we would not buy eachother a gift this year, as we are in the final months of nursing school on a pretty tight budget. I knew this would be hard for Hero. He loves to give gifts. He did make a small purchase to commemorate our silver anniversary - 2 place settings of antique silver. So cute. And cheap. That made it okay.

While Hero was at work, I spent the evening before cutting out paper hearts and hanging them in the great room. They were so fun to watch fluttering around. Everyone loved them. They lingered for about a week.

This 25 years does not seem so long. In fact, I have a pretty hard time remembering life without Hero.

I am convinced that he and I have been together for much longer than that, like eternity long. Like infinity. Like a lot a lot.