History of Clinton

I've been thinking a lot about marriage lately. Maybe it's because I just celebrated my fourth anniversary last week, or maybe because it is the summer, which is notoriously wedding season.

While four years is not much, it has been packed for us. It feels like more because Mark and I dated for many years before getting married. The following in a history of our married life.

About the wedding. I have never been one of those girls that was so caught up in the wedding day that I run around screaming at people and then end up crying in the bathroom. Mark helped with all the planning, I picked out my dress, bridesmaid dresses, and the reception location in the first weekend (we had only 3 months to plan, so everything had to be a miracle). We were laid back. Then, predictably, many things went wrong on the day of. My hair had so many fly-aways (on the most humid of July days) that I looked like I had a swarm of gnats above my head (I warned the hair girl that she had no idea what she was dealing with). Then, at the church, when I stepped into my dress (as everyone snapped their cameras at me in my underwear), I was surprised to discover that the small alteration taken after my last fitting was really quite extreme. The cameras kept snapping as my sister tried with all her might to get my dress zipped. Then in an act that I still believe might be sabotage, the air conditioning didn't seem to be turned on during the ceremony. I tend to be a heavy sweater, so I had to keep wiping and sweating all over the stage. Also, the unity candle didn't light. And the list goes on.

The reception was an excellent time of dinner and dancing, even with the deejay who made many awkward microphone comments and repeatedly played songs off the "forbidden" list. On our way out, while we were saying our final goodbyes, we witnessed someone vomiting on the dance floor. Then, the room cleared.

All of these events could add up to be disastrous for some, but not us. We kept laughing and ended up having a great day.

We started our marriage with a honeymoon in Mexico. Of course, on the first day, I was stung by a jellyfish in the ocean and Mark got a serious sunburn. I also noticed a group of young ladies without bikini tops camped out on the chairs right next to Mark. The rest of the time was filled with free drinks and unlimited food. Then for Mark on the way home, unlimited diarrhea. As you can imagine, the plane ride home was not pleasant. The sickness hung on for our road trip across the country days later. We were moving from Illinois to Utah (twenty-four hours of driving). My sister drove with me in the front, while Mark was smashed, uncomfortably in the back with a TV and many of our other worldly possessions. His fitful sleep was interrupted by a flat tire and the need to clear our trunk of the loaded junk to get to the spare.

Once in Utah, we installed ourselves an apartment for a year that was halfway underground. During this time, we ate fish sticks, tator tots and corn dogs (not a lot different from now) daily and tried to not starve. When our lease ended, we bought a townhouse and (briefly) lived like the rich. A month later, I was surprised to find out I was pregnant.

Eli was born in May 2006 and due to new expenses, we sold and moved out of our house in November. We took up residence in my in-laws, unfinished, unheated (yet incredibly spacious) basement. A few months later, I quit my job and became a stay-at-home mom. Six months later, we moved back to Illinois.

In Illinois, we had made a hasty weekend decision to buy another townhouse, only this one was small, in a bad neighborhood and inhabited by small ants. Now a year later, we are trying sell this townhouse and buy a slightly bigger, freestanding house.

There it is, a recap of the last four years. What I left out in all those details is that we have had more than our share of laughs together. We love each other. I do admit that we sometimes annoy each other and we have a messy house, but the man I share my life with is one I know better than anyone. We have been through deaths, through new life, through the messy and the neat. We have made great friends and probably some enemies (more me than him). Mark makes me a better (less negative) person, and potentially a better golfer.

Maybe no one envies us and our idea of romance can be purchased in the clearance aisles of Walgreen's. But I am committed to him, and he to me. We are committed to our family and our faith in God. We share a son, Eli, who we believe is better than all the other kids.

So, yes, four years of marriage isn't really that many, but I feel lucky to have them. And while there are sure to be more problems, poverty and trials, I say, bring on forty more years!