My Solemn Vow: 4 Years Later

Mr. Cob and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary this past week.  It is possible that I deserted him on our actual day while in Boston visiting an old friend.  The day came and went with little fanfare this year - we didn't even exchange cards. Mr. Cob wished me happy anniversary over my voicemail.  Our gift to each other is a week long vacation sans the kiddo in October.

Even though we weren't physically together on our anniversary this year, my heart still smiled. I love August 31st each year because it's the date I committed myself to another person. Four years ago on August 31 Mr. Cob and I looked in each other's eyes and said "lets do this!"  And each August 31st is a reminder to me of those vows I took and a time to recommit myself to our life together.  We're in this for the long haul.  There is no out.  We're clear on that point.

But it's not always easy, this marriage thing.  There are moments we don't like each other.  There have been whole days we don't want to talk to one another.  There are weeks we are tense around the house.  And I'm sure in the future there will be rough months and perhaps even years.  Sometimes we need a reminder that we love each other.  We need to remember what it was that made us fall in love with one another.  We need to recall those feelings we had when our love was still fresh and new.

Which is why I love August 31st.  It brings me back to Pine Mountain, Georgia where I cried and stuttered my way through vows that I wrote myself.  It reminds me that I promised to cherish this man.  I promised to love him.  I promised to support him.  I promised to listen to him.  For all the days of my life.

And he promised to make me laugh.  He promised a whole bunch of other things too, but this promise is the one that I cling to.  The one that ensures me that we can get through any rough patch.  The promise that will be there once beauty and youth fades. 

He has held tight to this promise and he has delivered.  I am a lucky woman to be married to this man who makes me laugh.  I am a lucky woman to be married to this man who approaches fatherhood with laughter (and the joy that cannot help but accompany laughter).  I am a lucky woman who laughs often.  I am a lucky woman.