Fourteen Wonderful Years

Today I celebrate fourteen years married to the world's most wonderful girl. I wish we were off some place exotic just to the two of us, but instead, I'm at work feeling like I need one more day off to recuperate from this nasty cold and Katie's at home battling her own flu issues as well as trying to treat and prevent six or seven others. Not very exotic. Tonight we'll either have dinner together (thanks J) or perhaps just have a swig of cough syrup and go to bed. Not too fancy either way. For weeks I've struggled to think of something wonderful to get Katie so she knows how much I appreciate her but have been quite unsuccessful. Here's a quick rundown of what fourteen years can feel like trying to keep up with her. I'll bet that if we kept track we've celebrated our anniversary quietly about 50% of the time. The rest of the time we've been too busy with a new move, job, city or whatever to take the time.

Year 1: She got As in math (!), graduated from college, and got pregnant (!)
Year 2: She hosted the International Year of the Family and had Mason
Year 3: Celebrated her anniversary in a new city - Chicago
Year 4: Spent the summer in Dallas and drove to Winter Quarters, Independence, Hiram, Kirtland, Palmyra, Toronto during the summer. Also spent a wonderful weekend in Austin.
Year 5: Celebrated her anniversary in her first home - in Dallas. She had Bryn earlier that year.
Year 6: Forgot what I looked like, but knew she could see me if she flew to Tulsa.
Year 7: Had Madison. Anniversary got scrabbled by a move to Stockholm.
Year 8: Wonderful year in Stockholm. Had just been to Paris, Munich, Austria, Switzerland, Portugal, England, Finland, Norway, Rome, Estonia.
Year 9: Moved back to Dallas and had Porter. Huddled in the hall to protect kids from tornado while I order pasta in Louisville.
Year 10: Celebrated in Boise. No disruptions. Life had calmed down. Ran her first half marathon. The best anniversary - went to Hawaii to celebrate later that year.
Year 11: Molly was now part of our home. I can't remember if our anniversary was impacted by her trip to Haiti. Won her first triathlon later that month.
Year 12: New arrivals to Salt Lake City.
Year 13: Anniversary missed due to complications in Hanoi. Welcome home, Lucy.
Year 14: Here we are. We spent some quality time together last night huddled over in the Sandton Clinic. I think we're both feeling much better, but once again, her anniversary celebration is interrupted by chaos and confusion.

Thanks for fourteen wonderful years, Katie. Only you could be so supportive and understanding to take this wild ride. Hang on tight, we're not done yet!