FOURTEEN

Today our marriage is a fourteen year old, so it may or may not be in the moody and awkward phase. (Next up? The eye-rolling, cropped top phase. *shudders and decides to skip straight to when the brain is fully developed. Ain’t nobody need to see either one of us in a cropped top, #letsbehonest)

*finally stops with the adolescence metaphor because everyone’s already over it.

Anyway, today, I want to talk about John. And not JUST to say something outlandish so I can see if he actually reads the blog. Muahahaha.

Because today we’ve been married FOURTEEN years. (Fine. YESTERDAY. Yesterday, we’ve been married fourteen years. We all know I didn’t post this on time despite my best intentions.) I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is YES. Yes, I WAS a child bride. I met John the very day I moved to Atlanta for my first job out of college. And even though I couldn’t remember his first name after we met (or do I just tell him that, so he doesn’t know I was already doodling our names in little hearts? I’ll never tell.), I knew I’d see him again, and I KNEW he was special.

I’m not here to share lessons we’ve learned from being married for a sweet forever. Because to be honest, we are still figuring it out. Some years have been amazing. And some years have honestly been hard. We’ve had to grow up together in a lot of ways, and I know I’m not the same starry eyed girl he married 14 years ago. Life’s a lot more complicated than that now.

BUT. Let me tell you why marrying John was the best decision I have ever made. Besides his obvious hotness, and the fact that he looks even better at 40 than he did at 26. (Wait, that’s actually suuuuper annoying though.) Anyway, here’s the best thing about John: he is rock solid. And steadfast. And this may shock you (NO.), but I am not exactly known for those qualities. I need him. And I never doubt that he’s there.

When we were dating, there was a night where I was being COMPLETELY NORMAL AND not NOT insane. I remember shouting at him to “just go find a girl who’s gonna be better for you than me.” Possibly emphasized with a dramatic flounce, tears, maybe a door slam, and YES, 24 year old Sherri WAS a REAL TREAT.

He grabbed my hands, looked me dead in the eyes, and said “Sherri. I am never walking away from you. No matter what your level of crazy.” (Fine. I added the level of crazy part. But he said it with his eyes.)

As someone who lived a large part of her childhood fearing that she would be “given back” if she showed anything less than perfection (#adoptionbaggage), this is all I needed to hear to KNOW that he was the one for me.

And I can tell you one hundred percent, he’s seen way higher levels of crazy since then. Yet here he is, loving me through all of them.

THAT is what fourteen years of marriage looks like. Years where it’s easy to love each other, and years where it’s not, but we do it anyway, because at the end of the day?

Neither one of us is going anywhere.