A Belated Love Letter

"Or if you will, thrusting me beneath your clothing,

Where I may feel the throbs of your heart or rest upon your hip,

Carry me when you go forth over land or sea;

For thus merely touching you is enough, is best,

And thus touching you would I silently sleep and be carried eternally."

Whoever You Are Holding Me Now in Hand

by Walt Whitman

Dear Handsome Hub,

This is a little love note I am sending your way in honor of our 9th anniversary.

Yes, I am fully aware of my tardiness on this matter since today is the 17th and we were married on the 15th. (Just in case you forgot.) Also, I think you have always been very aware of my tardiness when it comes to many things. Ahem. Sorry for that.

You have endured my imperfections well. You have proven on a consistent basis that you are eager to keep the peace in our marriage. When we were newly married you used to come into the bathroom at 2 minute intervals to inquire if I was ready to go to church. I think the hot lava spewing out of my eye clued you in that this would be a short lived method for motivating your wife to speed up preparations! Perhaps you are unaware that over the last 8 1/2 years you have rarely said, "Are you ready?" Thank you. I really don't like to spit lava out of my eyes except in extreme emergencies.

Your consideration for me has been duly noted over the years. When we lived in Wymount (BYU student family housing) I often teased you about leaving your shoes in the middle of the kitchen. Now you leave your shoes just inside the laundry room entrance so when I trip no one sees me.

You have also been keen to my need to have cabinet doors shut, toilet lids down, towels hung, and crumby floors swept.

Sadly, there are some things which may take an eternity. After nine years you still leave your contact solution and razor on the bathroom counter. One time I even posted notes on the counter by the offensive objects reminding you that the counter was not their permanent resting place. I think for a day or two you tried desperately to put your items away. Most times you put your dirty clothes on the hamper lid instead of lifting it up and dropping the load inside. I think I posted a note once for this also. During the winter months you hang your coat on the banister instead of hanging it in the closet which is located NEXT to the stairs.

After you trim your beard in the morning there are still little specs of hair around your sink. You continue to spread eagle across our bed as if no one else is sleeping there. When you ask me what I need help with in the home you forget to mention you will pick over my list until you find something you like: i.e. I think you've cleaned the bathroom 4 times in our marriage. When you help with the dishes you almost always bypass the pots and pans. When I inquire about them you tell me they need to "soak." Sometimes you even try to convince me it is more efficient if you play the piano while I clean up after dinner. Thankfully your family ratted you out when we were first married and thankfully you like sleeping next to me at night instead of on the couch. We both know you would slumber on the latter if you pursued your play piano during dinner cleanup scheme.

Now, in light of the above listed items I am certain I would think you ill if you didn't do these things. It isn't simply your upstanding character that I love. It is your little idiosyncrasies which cause me to gravitate toward you day in and day out. You are absolutely adorable when you try to weasel your way out of cleaning the toilets! I love how you bite your bottom lip when we're talking and you don't even realize you're doing it until I say something. I love how you respond to your buddies on the phone with "dude," "man," and an occasional "bro." Most of the time (note the "most") I even giggle at how obsessed you are with maps when we're traveling. I'm starting to think I should just tape an atlas to my thigh so I'll always be ready.

Try as I might I can never really put into words what it feels like when I look at you or talk to you or nuzzle my face into your neck. All I know is that with you I can let my hair down, keep the makeup off, unhook the bra, and even use the porcelain throne while you are in my midst! Now that is saying something! I guess the best way to sum it up is:

Completely comfortable.

I'm the kind of person who has a hard time getting to a place like that. It really says a lot about you. Case in point: I asked you to a dance at BYU. You regretfully turned me down. When I saw you the next day in Biology I expected things to be extremely awkward. You wouldn't have it. You made me feel completely comfortable.

So, sit back, relax, (get comfortable) and enjoy this parade of pictures down memory lane.

5 moves.
3 graduations.
4 children.
7 jobs.
$$$$$ of debt.
5 cars.
2 houses.
3 apartments.
1 basement...my least favorite!
6 getaways sans children.

We started out with one couch to fill our entire living room space.

Now...

well, let's not think about all the STUFF we have to move after residency. It'll just give me nightmares. You on the other hand will sleep peacefully because you rarely dream and if you do you can't remember by morning anyway.

Here's to 9 years of really fantastic memories!

How funny to look back at us before we were married! We were engaged and yet we wouldn't even hold hands while we took Sunday afternoon naps.




Our first Christmas tree in our first apt. in Springville. The walls were white cinder block and we hung our pictures/clock where ever we could find a gap in the wall to stick a nail. Our TV sat on a cardboard box in this apartment and our stereo was on a cookie sheet so the CD tray could open. Ahh, sweet simplicity!


.We moved to Wymount 9 months into our marriage. We made a lot of good memories in this place! It was here that we stopped folding our arms while we napped and then this started happening:


We entered BYU single handed and went forth from BYU with a spouse, a baby, another baby on the way and two degrees.





Even though it was insanely hot in AZ we still enjoyed our time there mostly for the experience and not the weather. We left with two more kids than we had in UT plus a medical school degree and a residency spot in Ohio. Let's not forget the fantastic friends we left behind to sizzle in the sun, too!






It has been you and me the whole way on this journey. I still chuckle at the response people give when I mention "we were at medical school in Arizona" and then they say, "You and your husband are both doctors?" ha.ha.ha. I guess some people will never understand what "we" means to us. We're partners, companions, co-presidents.

I love you.
I couldn't ask for a better road to travel on than the one I'm on with you.

****For the rest of you readers: If you just threw up a little in your mouth...don't worry about it too much. Dashle does it all the time. *****