Happy 12th Anniversary

Twelve years ago yesterday (July 13, 1996), J and I were married. Twelve years!!! So hard to believe. It seems like I should be saying Happy 5th anniversary or Happy 7th - but Happy 12th? Crazy.

I had planned to write a little summation of our lives together so far, but I have pink eye, and the squirmy baby on my lap has pink eye, and his big brother will wake from his nap any second, so there's no time to wax nostalgic today. (Didn't post yesterday for the same reason.) Ahh, life in suburbia. So romantic.

So here is what I'll give you instead. Twelve reasons why I still love my husband, after a dozen years of marriage. I still ask myself - how did I make such a good decision at 25 years of age? Seriously, how? I made so many bad ones. At least I got that one right.

So here goes. Twelve reasons (in no particular order) why I love my husband. After 12 years. And why I hope for dozens more.

1. You put Snoop Dogg and Green Day in the mix with Natalie Merchant and Lisa Loeb on my iPod Shuffle
2. You have a good heart, and you're a big teddy bear
3. You're an awesome father to our boys
4. You brew your own beer
5. You make me laugh
6. You're gorgeous
7. You keep our yard beautiful
8. You're a grill master and an excellent cook
9. You're a good communicator
10. You would rather backpack than shoot a deer
11. You do what’s right
12. You love good music (and you teach me about it, since I am clueless) – and your taste runs from Merle to White Stripes to Led Zeppelin to Smetana’s The Moldow
13. You're not afraid to be an a**hole
14. Most of the time you are not an a**hole
15. You have some bad boy in you
16. But mostly good
17. You are fun to be with
18. You love the outdoors
19. You are very smart but not pretentious
20. You like to do things right
21. You put family first and work hard for us
22. You're a great dancer
23. You keep me from taking myself too seriously
24. I can see us hanging out when we’re old and gray
25. We’ll visit brew pubs and go hiking
26. Or lie on the couch and watch movies all weekend and avoid the three-dimensional people
27. Just like we did in the beginning.

(I actually went over 12, but that's good, right?)