A Word on Marriage

Marriage is a lot of things. I'm feeling warm and fuzzy today, so here are a few of my favorites:

We've been using the same inside jokes for years. A word, phrase or gesture that the other person will always understand. If anyone else said "Ping the Baptist" to you, would you laugh??
Routine phone calls. We probably say the same thing to one another 3 times each day. But I like it just the same.
After a lot of years together, you have a conjoined identity. You're not sure who acts like who anymore, because you've morphed into one personality.
All the little neurotic things about you... someone gets it and accepts it. My husband knows I like extra salt on my popcorn, but it has to be separate from the bag so that I can continue adding salt all the way through the movie. He didn't laugh at me when I ruined 27 batches of toffee. He knows I love my cat and dog even though they're both total assholes. He lets me sleep in on Sundays.
His parenting style balances mine out so that the kids get a good mix of soft and stern. Sometimes when I lose my temper and yell like a lunatic he reminds me that as long as no one lost an eye, it's all okay.
He fills my ipod with all my quirky music tastes. Most recent = Naughty By Nature.
I can send him a love letter in a totally foreign language, and he will translate it and respond in another.

At this point, I've lived longer with my husband in my life than I did before he came along. My biggest fear when we got married was that one of us would have to die first- and I sincerely hope it's me. Morbid? Nah, just realistic. I simply cannot imagine waking up one morning and just not having him there. Not being able to share things with him, not having him to laugh with (okay, and AT) me. Not to mention all the obvious *ahem* physical perks of being married! But seriously, I believe you can die of a broken heart.

A long time ago I read a story about ancient humans having two heads, 4 limbs and one heart. They angered the gods and as a result, were split in two. Each one spent it's life searching out it's missing half. The theory goes that when you fall in love, you're really recognizing that missing half of yourself and rejoicing in it's return. I like that. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.