I wrote an anniversary letter to my husband in celebration of our ninth wedding anniversary. It was an “in the moment” thing I typed up on an Instagram post.
I was nursing Zaya (our newborn baby) and I was thinking about how happy I was that we welcomed our new baby girl on our 9th wedding anniversary.
We actually eloped when he was serving in the Army. August 3, 2011. Eleven years of knowing each other, nine years of marriage, and four more children born into our family and he’s still the one who makes my heart melt!
AN ANNIVERSARY LETTER TO MY HUSBAND
Dear Travis,
I was thinking about that one time in Tennessee, when I was in the grocery store and you texted me saying, “I was thinking about asking you if you want to get married.” And I said, “Let’s do it!”
We decided to get hitched right away because you had orders to deploy to Afghanistan. And I told you to wear your Class A Army uniform at the ceremony, and you complained about it because you hated wearing that uniform.
Then you remembered, on the day of the ceremony, you had to wear the black boots with the uniform. So you had to borrow boots from a friend and he brought it to the county clerk’s office, literally 30 minutes before we had to be in there.
We didn’t do it big and have a fancy wedding, but I didn’t care. I still felt like the luckiest woman in the world.
I remember after the ceremony ended when we stepped outside the county clerk’s office doors, we handed everyone small bottles of bubbles. I think it came from the Dollar Tree.
Everybody blew bubbles before we left. and I’m trying to remember why we even had the bubbles. Lol! I think it was Michala’s idea.
After we told my family and our friends bye, we headed back to our apartment. Just you, me, Elijah, and Michala. We were a family now.
I remember as we drove away from the county clerk’s office, I felt like I had won the lottery. I felt like I won a million dollars. I hit the jackpot!
Just the great amount of joy I felt then, even thinking about it now, makes me smile really big. It was comparable to the joy I felt with having each one of our children.
It was just a very overwhelming, happy feeling. And I just felt absolutely amazing.
We didn’t have much money. Spent our last $100 on our marriage license.
You and I took a shot of vodka before the ceremony to relax our nerves and eloped at the county clerk’s office. Then we ordered some pizza and watched How I Met Your Mother at home with Elijah and Michala.
You remember that?
It didn’t bother us the way that we chose to get married because we always have done things our own way. We never cared about what people thought because to us all that mattered was that we had each other.
And it worked for us.
Who would have thought 11 years later, after first meeting each other, we’d be a big family and still going strong? Nine years of marriage, eleven years of knowing you, and I still feel like the luckiest woman in the world.
Sure. We have our moments where we get on each other’s nerves. We argue. We’re not perfect. Yet, somehow through the good and the tough times we’re still here. We’re still together and we’re still going strong.
We’re still growing together. We’re still figuring out this parenting thing. We’re still figuring out this marriage thing. And to me, that’s a beautiful thing to be able to share with my life partner.
You recognize I’m not perfect and you’re patient with me. Any time I apologize for something, before I have a chance to explain what I’m apologizing for, you quickly say, “It’s okay.”
I don’t know how you do it because I am the complete opposite. Lol!
I’ll admit I have a tough time accepting that you’re imperfect (including myself!), but what I do know is that I love that we have these opportunities to learn from each other, to learn from our mistakes, and to continue to grow. Together.
I feel very proud of us that we’ve reached nine years of marriage. I feel very proud of us, that we have six children together. I feel like it’s the greatest blessing in my life.
I am thankful that I am on this journey with you– through thick and thin, good times and bad, in sickness and in health. You’ll always be my everything.
And I’ll always be by your side, just like you’ve always been by my side.
I love you. I just wanted you to know that. Happy anniversary!
Love Jenn xoxo
