In Eight Years...

It’s been eight years since we traded I-do’s. Since we stood hand in hand, nervously waiting to exchange rings. It’s been eight years since we ate cake in our hotel room and danced the night away….it’s been eight years.


On one hand I am surprised at all that has changed in those eight years…

We moved 2000 miles away from our families and all we took with us was a trunk full of clothes
You changed jobs, from the Reds to the Orioles
We bought our first house and made it our home
I began working full-time
We traveled a lot, for baseball, and to visit both of our families
I started a new job
In April 2005, I flew to Virginia to announce to you in person that we were going to be a Family
We welcomed Camdyn into our world
I became a Stay-at-Home Mom
We spent the following summer in Canada trying to live as Canadians do
When we got home I went back to work
You spent the spring playing ball in Mexico
Camdyn went to daycare for the first time and I found out what it is like to be a single parent for the first time
You came home and retired from baseball
You found a new job and we began adjusting to life without baseball
In July 2008 we found out that we would be adding to our family
In March we welcomed Chloe into our family
We lost Great Grandpa
We lost your Momma
I began to work part-time
We sold our first house and moved in to a rental
We almost lost my Dad
We bought our forever-house

It’s life. It’s the mundane and the extraordinary. It’s the curve and the fastball, the ups and downs. It’s everything that life should be.

In eight years, the things that haven’t changed….

The way it feels when you reach for my hand. How you throw an arm around my neck to give me nuggies on the top of my head. Your beautifully crooked, half grin. The way you look at me. Your knack for singing old school hip hop. The way you know what I’m trying to say even when I can’t get the words out. How you look in jeans and a crisp white shirt. Your wonderfully refreshing sense of humor. The way you support me. Your ability to provide for our family.

And, the one thing that belongs in both lists….Our Love. It’s the same, yet changed. It’s as strong as the day we said our vows, but in a million ways it’s different. This love is confident. This love has weathered storms and a bigger chunk of time. It is now not just the love of a couple, but the love of a family. This love doesn’t need gifts or fancy dinners. This love has no material parameters. This love knows that every argument doesn’t carry with it the fear of the end of the relationship. This love has an ease to it. This love is saturated with dedication and commitment and merely sprinkled with romance. This love is better.

So, my dear, Happy Anniversary! And, just as I wrote to you when we started dating, I am writing to you now; The poem that I used to quote when the time and the distance seemed like our greatest hardship. Now, eight years later, I get to wake up next to you everyday and I realize that life might bring tougher times ahead, but it doesn’t matter, because THIS LOVE is far better than what our NEW LOVE was.

“Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything.

Love still stands when all else has fallen.”

~Author Unknown

Love You Forever and a Day,
Your “OLD” Cow