14 Years . . . .

My Dearest Love,

As each year passes, I say to you, "Wow, we've been married longer than either of our parents were!", and it blows my mind.  It makes me proud.  I'm proud of you, I'm proud of myself and I'm proud of the life we continue to create TOGETHER.  As the two oldest children from broken homes, we continue to prove the statistics wrong.

We fight for our marriage, because no, it's not always easy, it's not always fun, but it's WORTH the world to both us.

Life is hard.

It's as simple as that.  We already knew that though.  We have both been through hell and back even before we met each other so we know just.how.tough. life can be but we persevere.  We were both so broken, yet our love is the glue that makes us feel whole.

Your love completes me.
Your love encourages me.
Your love makes me believe in myself.
Your love makes me want to be a better me always.

14 years - - - -

Wow.

I don't know what I would do without you.  We are completely different but our values completely align and we know how to have fun together.  This is why I KNOW we are built to last.

I was going through some pics and saw so many that pulled at my heart and remind me just WHY I adore you Chris Auditore . . . . here are a few:

You saw something in that C-R-A-Z-Y, reckless 22 year old and made me believe I was "worth" something and worthy of love.

You promised to love, honor and protect me....always.

                                               You make FAMILY your Number 1 Priority

With 3 kids, and our crazy life, you always make time to romance and WOW me.

You still DATE me, even indulging me in date places you wouldn't typically go to!

You take us on fun little adventures!

Exposing the kids to anything and everything you can is important to you.

You MAKE time for each of them individually, sometimes driving yourself crazy with making sure each of them gets enough of your time.

Your patience is a gift....and yes, you will be teaching each of them to drive a car. I'm sure of that.

Our Daughters will never doubt how much they are cherished and will know just how WORTHY they are of the very best.

You are THE BEST role model for our son.

You have embraced more of the "outdoors" because they LOVE it!

You say "YES" to my crazy ideas and join in the FUN.

You complete all the jobs I start and almost always say yes to the list of projects that swirl around in my mind.  I appreciate you for that.

These are just snip its.  It's late and we had a long school day.....oh yeah, school.  I LOVE that you support and encourage me in educating our children. We both value education, and equally value quality of life.  I love that you help keep our household running and our needs met so we can continue on our Homeschool journey.  I appreciate how you respect my opinions, my way of doing things (even though it may seem crazy at times) and gently help steer me back on course when I feel insecure and lost. 

You are my calm.
You are my peace.

My crazy mind is always going 24/7, my body tries to go 24/7, my mouth pretty much goes 24/7, but when I connect with you, everything slows down.  I become grounded once again, recharged, refocused, and always ready to tackle what is coming at us next.

Thank you for always being there. 

Thank you for holding doors and opening car doors for me.  

Thank you for the morning cups of coffee in bed and the gentle forehead kisses you give me.  

Thank you for sweeping me away when I need it and giving me alone time when I need that too. 
Thank you for swooping in and taking over at just the right moments before I lose my mind.  

Thank you for stopping me in my tracks to just hold me and kiss me when I'm running all through this house like a crazy woman trying to get stuff done.  

Thank you for sharing your love of food, music, and movies with me.  

Thank you for taking me as your wife and lifelong partner.

Half of who I am as a 38 year old woman is because of you and your influences on me. 

I TRULY, DEEPLY, ADORE YOU MY LOVE!!!

HAPPY 14TH ANNIVERSARY!!