Nine

At ONE, our biggest concern was when to bring home a puppy, where the hottest night spot was that evening, the right tone of white for our wedding dishes and how many times we could slow dance on our rickety porch of our very first home.

You said to me: I love you just the way you are. Chase your dreams. Live big. 
My soul is yours. 

During TWO, we had to do adult things like pay bills, worry about health benefits, how to scrap together enough cash to take that trip to Vegas and struggle to find that career start. The laughter was abundant, our hearts too. Life was full of light.

You said to me: I love you just the way you are. Chase your dreams. Live big. 
My soul is yours. 

In THREE, another man stole my heart and we never looked back. We were no longer the two of us, but three, and forever turned into sappy piles of mush and joy we hardly even recognized. It was scares and experiences, pictures and first times, tears and endurance. It was amazing.

You said to me: I love you just the way you are. Chase your dreams. Live big. 
My soul is yours. 

At FOUR, it was creating traditions, being sillier than we ever thought possible and learning how to be more than me. More than we. It was trying to remember what life was before: quiet conversations, holding hands, calling during the day and leaving room for date nights. On those rare ones, it was like when we met at 21 - fireworks, too many margaritas and finding a shared spirit between learning to nurture a toddler.

You said to me: I love you just the way you are. Chase your dreams. Live big. 
My soul is yours. 

When FIVE came about, it was connecting with friends - hosting mustache parties, traveling to the lake and holding on to the pieces that led us to balance in life. It was growing in confidence as parents, now trotting along our career paths and putting family first.

You said to me: I love you just the way you are. Chase your dreams. Live big. 
My soul is yours. 

In comes SIX, where expanding our family proved to be trickier than we dreamed. It was late night fights, loads of icicle -illed walls building around us and pondering if we'd ever return to what we were. It was sprinkled with gratitude, going through the motions and celebrating firsts with our family and friends.

You said to me: I love you just the way you are. Chase your dreams. Live big. 
My soul is yours. 

SEVEN arrives, and so does our remarkable baby boy. We lose our hearts completely to our two sons, finding our lost souls wandering between the memories they created for us day in and day out. We start to forget about one another, but find it again in small moments over morning cereal bars, watching a child streak naked across the room or during a show that highlights a hysterical moment that reminds us that this is normal. We fight colic, postpartum depression and how to show big love to all these things we cherish so deeply. We fight for us.

You said to me: I love you just the way you are. Chase your dreams. Live big. 
My soul is yours. 

Around the corner comes EIGHT, where we settle into routines of work and travel, daily living and nightly waking. We're overjoyed with our family's amazing milestones and start to dream again as a family. As the two of us. We find grace, we accept, we grow. We start to realize we're different and hold on to what makes us happy about the same.

You said to me: I love you just the way you are. Chase your dreams. Live big. 
My soul is yours. 

Here we are at NINE. I don't know what this year will bring, but with you by my side loving me the way I am, allowing me to chase my dreams and live big? The possibilities are endless.

Thanks for giving me your soul. Here's mine. For I'm forever celebrating ours.

I love you.