Nine years

Yesterday Jeff and I celebrated our ninth anniversary. Well, "celebrated" is too strong of a word. We are planning to go out on an actual dinner/movie date on Saturday to "celebrate." Yesterday we mentioned to each other that we had been married nine years, and reminisced for a few minutes before my sleeping pill kicked in and I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.

But we have been married nine years. We both agreed that it has sped by with alarming speed. Neither of us feel old enough to say that we have been married just shy of a decade. But then I remember that a few months ago, my sister who is just starting high school admitted that she had never heard of Third Eye Blind. We must be getting old. So, when I stop to think about all that has happened the past nine years, I am amazed to realize that we have already shared a lifetime of experiences.

Consider just some of the things we have experienced since August 19, 2000.

Survived four winters in Ohio.
Survived two summers in Florida.
Survived two different stints living with Jeff's parents, each one approximately a year long

Celebrated a national championship for THE Ohio State Buckeyes
Celebrated a World Series win for my Boston Red Sox

Suffered through four (now make it five) awful first trimesters
Suffered through the birth of three healthy babies
Suffered through the death of one tiny baby boy
Suffered through an ectopic pregnancy

Managed to survive one awful jaw surgery (Jeff's)
Managed to survive a scare involving a needle stick and Hep-C (Jeff)
Managed to survive a diagnosis of mitral valve prolapse (irregular heartbeat--again, Jeff)
Managed to survive a number of shock treatments to determine another diagnosis of myasthenia gravis (a condition that causes fatigue in muscles--again, also Jeff).

Graduated from BYU with a BS in Geography (J)
Graduated from BYU with a BS in Elementary Ed (K)
Graduated from dental school at Ohio State
Graduated from orthodontics at JU

Visited the following states: Wyoming, Colorado, California, Nevada, Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Delaware, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia (may be forgetting something, but close enough)

Bought our first "home" (an 880 sq ft condo in Columbus)
Bought our last home (a much larger home in Orem)

Endured many long nights and early mornings with babies
Endured many long nights and early mornings studying

Shared hundreds of tears (most shed by me)
Shared thousands of laughs
Shared our lives

When you look at it like that, we really have been through a lot together. If these nine years have taught me anything (and I like to think that they have), I know that we can get through anything. As long as we do it together (okay, a little sappy, but it HAS been nine years!).

Happy anniversary Jeff! I look forward to a lifetime of memories yet to come!