Tomorrow is Chuck and my eighth wedding anniversary. It feels most of the time now like we have always been together. Eight years ago I was working at USC, hating my job. I had just bought a house and felt broke and overwhelmed by the responsibility. Chuck came into my life and everything changed. He gave me the courage to quit a job that was killing my spirit and take the great leap into working for myself (well, even more exciting, in a small business with Chuck!). Okay, owning a house was still pretty overwhelming, but sharing the burden with someone else, well, it really helped.

We joke a lot about me being wife number three (third time’s a charm, stuff like that). With this anniversary I have beat the combined total of the other two marriages, so go me! The first goal was three years, the length of marriage number two. the next goal was five year,s the length of marriage number one. The final challenge was beating the combined total and I have now accomplished that. My next goal is double digits – we are thinking of Tahiti for our tenth. Go me!

I remember our wedding week as a blur of happenings: we got married on a Wednesday, then had to prep for our reception on Saturday. Family and friends arrived and it seemed like most of them stayed in our house (when I close my eyes, I see people sleeping everywhere).  My sister, niece, my best friend and I spent one day  baking a whole boatload of cupcakes for the reception. I remember being so incredibly nervous before the wedding that I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to actually squeak out any responses to the minister (who was our friend Drue, which should have leant me some confidence but it didn’t). But I also remember that once Drue said the magic words, “I now pronounce you husband and wife,” all my fear and anxiety melted away and I felt fine. I guess that was when I knew I was doing the right thing. With every year that has passed I have become more confident of the rightness of my choice. We’ve had our trials and tribulations (for instance, I thought I was marrying a really healthy guy – go figure!) but through it all, we’ve remained best friends and each other’s biggest booster. He’s my trusted confidante, and the person I trust to always tell me the truth, whether I want to hear it or not. He can fix anything, from my cuts and bruises, to the plumbing and electrical wiring in the house. His face is the last thing I see at night and the first thing I see in the morning.

Happy eighth anniversary, Charlie O’Shea. I love you and can’t wait to become old and decrepit with you. When you asked me to marry you almost nine years ago, I know I said, “Maybe.” But today (and tomorrow, and all of the tomorrows that follow) I would answer without hesitation, “Yes, a thousand times, yes!”