Chris & Maggie.

Today is our eleventh anniversary.  

Eleven years of being husband and wife. 
Eleven years of being Chris & Maggie. 
The eleven best years of my life. 
Eleven years that have changed me only for the better. 
Eleven years that will turn into 22 years, 33 years, 44 years, and on and on..........

I'll say in all anniversary cliche-ness that I remember our wedding day like it was yesterday.  Because I was horribly, horribly, horribly sick.  It was miserable.

I'm not going to even try and be all "glass half full" about it.  I woke up with the flu, I threw up, I went to the emergency room because I could hardly stand up, I barely made it through my ceremony, I ate a piece of white bread at my reception, and I was asleep within five minutes of getting to our hotel room on our wedding night. It was hot........because I had a fever.  Chris stayed up trying to figure out how to enact our trip insurance to cancel our honeymoon.  

I remember that on that day I kept hearing people's voices in my head, "Your wedding day is the best day of your life." And I've thought about those voices ever since............and I have to say.........as unpopular as this might sound.......I disagree.  And not because I had a raging case of the 24 hour flu on mine and all I wanted to do was lay in bed and sleep.....I say it because I don't think that your wedding day is truly the best day of your life.  I think it commences the best DAYS of your life.  

When I think about the last eleven years with Chris I have memory after memory, moment after moment that are ours--only ours--and they are amazing.  They are more than just one day, one ceremony, one party, and in our case, the 24 hour flu.  They are the best days of my life.............

Watching Chris graduate from college after he worked so hard to put himself through it all on his own.

Celebrating our first anniversary in Chicago. 

Setting up Christmas trees in our apartment.

Deciding to build a house and watching that first shovel hit the ground. 
Sweating to death in Washington DC. 
"I don't even know who you are anymore." (That's actually more fun in retrospect) 

Our first trip to Puerto Vallarta and taking that dune buggy ride with no brakes. 

Our second trip to Puerto Vallarta with friends--that crazy night our cab broke down in the mountains!

Figuring out how to maneuver through one infertility treatment after another--learning how much we truly loved each other. 
That insane night in Chicago when we got caught in a blizzard and couldn't find a cab. 
That time we tried to be runners and fought all the way through a 5k. 

Making that first call to an adoption agency. 

Meeting Georgia's birth parents.

Bringing Georgia home from the hospital.

Paradise Valley, Arizona.
How hard we laughed at that guy that was video taping a video tape. 
The time Georgia wouldn't sleep so we drove around in the middle of the night for an hour. 

Standing behind a judge as she banged her gavel and announced that Georgia was officially ours. 

Laughing so hard I almost wet my pants....on a weekly basis.
Playing hide and seek with Georgia.  

Pouring cold water on each other while the other one is showering....it never gets old. 

Learning how to be parents together......everyday. 
Inside jokes.


Just being us......everyday......always.......it's my favorite.  

A wedding day is amazing because it's your wedding day.  It's the start of your life as a married couple--it's meant to give you that "we can conquer the world together" feeling.  The days that follow are the days that prove that wedding had meaning, that the vows that were said there can deliver, that you were truly meant for each other, and that the best times are ahead of you. I know that with Chris by my side I feel like I can do anything--he'll never leave, he'll always love me, he'll always be honest, he'll always know exactly what  I need to hear and whether the days ahead are easy, hard, thrilling, or heart-breaking....they are the best....because I'm with him.  

Your wedding day starts it......but your choice to work through every day that follows-- laughing when you need to, crying when you have to, having tough conversations, being crazy, laying in bed and talking for hours, brainstorming, kissing, fighting, laughing, and giving yourself completely to someone else--is what makes a marriage great.  

Eleven years and counting babe. I hope we're one of those love stories that people talk about for years.  

LULT. M

Our wedding pictures were taken.......11 years ago.....no digital images.  So......these are pictures of my pictures--I don't look so bad for someone who had just been throwing up and needed to sit down in between every picture.