To my husband, John:
12 years ago today you threw a bag of birdseed across a crowded wedding reception to make the maid-of-honor’s acquaintance. It landed—kerplop!—on the table directly in front of her, where she sat watching her dearest friend-of-the-heart get twirled across the floor by her new husband.
The bag of birdseed trick worked. The young lady joined you on the dance floor, first for one dance and then another.
You swept her off her feet with your sense of humor. You made her swoon when you called her “My Lady.” You didn’t bat an eye when she told you her age (4 ½ years your senior!).
You courted her with love and like a gentleman. When you proposed, you asked her father’s permission first. (“Well, she’s a handful!” said her dad.)
And 1 year later, to the day of your first meeting, you made that young lady your wife.
Happy 11th Anniversary, Honey! I raise my glass of sparkling cider for a toast:
- In honor of that first rough year of our marriage—such a struggle to get past self!
- In honor of the second year of our marriage—our oldest son (your namesake) blessed our lives. You passed the Bar and got a job in Boston.
- In honor of the third year of our marriage—our life in Massachusetts. Such a foreign land for this girl from North Dakota, but the people were so welcoming. Still, I missed my family.
- In honor of the fourth year of our marriage—an answer to two prayers: our second son was born and you were hired at a law firm back home.
- In honor of the fifth year of our marriage—the year 2000! Daughter Number 1 was born.
- In honor of the sixth year of our marriage—a busy life, a happy life. We agreed to homeschool our children.
- In honor of the seventh year of our marriage—we welcomed a second little girl into the family. A brother for a brother; a sister for a sister.
- In honor of the eighth year of our marriage—that one’s a blur. You worked hard and so did I. Our four little charges kept us busy.
- In honor of the ninth year of our marriage—A third little girl! Our hurricane. To survive her is a testament to the strength of our union. 😉
- In honor of the tenth year of our marriage—goodness! Has it been ten years already? We “honeymooned” in Washington DC at the Presidential Inaugural. I fell in love with you all over again.
- And finally, in honor of our eleventh year of marriage—I say a prayer in memory of our 6th little one (lost to miscarriage) and for our 7th child on the way. And also…here’s a toast to our trip to Hawaii in the making! (A present for my 40th—you’re such a dear.)
I love you, John, with all my heart. In your patience, your kindness, your hard work and your humor, I am richly blessed. You are the best of husbands and the best of the best of fathers. May God continue to bless us all the way to our 15th!
Ed. Note: To read an absolutely beautiful and very inspirational tribute to the sacrament of marriage, please visit Blessed Among Men. Wish Suzanne a happy birthiversary while you’re there!
Congratulations! Anyone can see how in love the two of you still are. You are truly a beautiful couple and I pray that God will continue to shower you with His blessings!
Happy anniversary, dear Margaret, to you and your beloved! May God continue to bless you with many more happy years together!
Congratulations and Happy Anniversary! I love your list and the pictures are terrific!!
Happy Anniversary. I love you both, even though we’ve never met! You both bring me so many laughs. I loved your year by year breakdown. I hope you have a wonderful day together.
God Bless you on you Anniversary!! I loved your year by year breakdown. How fast the years go! You have one year and a few days on us! I didn’t know so many people got married in the winter…it was special, wasn’t it? If we were closer, I’d watch your children so you could go to the MOA–LOL! Have a wonderful, blessed day!
PS my parents celebrated their 38th yesterday.
Happy Anniversary, Margaret!
What a sweet love story!
Jane
Happy Anniversary, dear Margaret! What a beautiful post!
Happy Anniversary! It’s so wonderful to see yours and Suzanne Temple’s posts (yesterday) because I often think that we mothers get so wrapped up in our mothering and blogging about children that we become consumed by that role in our lives and not enough of ourselves or our blogs is devoted to our spouses. God, Husband, Children as I keep telling my children…in that order…always. Thank you for reminding us of that today, Margaret!
Happy Anniversary!! Your post gave me chills!
What an incredibly beautiful life you have had together!!! May God bless you always!
Happy Anniversary! I don’t know about “best of husbands”, though…I’m pretty sure I’ve got that one!
Love to you all!
I love your list, I love the pictures, I love that we share the same anniversary day! God bless you with many happy years to come!
Very sweet … Happy Anniversary!
The two of you sure have been blessed, and busy 😉
Dearest Margaret, Happy Anniversary to you and your sweet husband! May God bless you with many more beautiful years together!!
Happy Anniversary!! Love that list.
Many congratulations on your eleventh anniversary! Great post! And sorry about the extra stress Christmas Day 🙁
O Lord, omnipotent and eternal God, we give you thanks and we bless your holy name. You created man and woman in your image and blessed their union, so that each would be for the other a help and support. Remember us today. Protect us and grant that our love may be in the image of the devotion and love of Christ for his Church. Grant us a long and fruitful life together, in joy and in peace, so that, through your Son and in the Holy Spirit, our hearts may always rise to you in praise and goods works.
A little prayer for you on your special day.
Happy Anniversary, Margaret. This is beautiful and so are the both of you! You are so evidently happy–it is seen in your posts and your pictures. And it rubs off on the rest of us! God bless your family!
Happy Anniversary to you and your dear hubby!
Thank you, thank you everyone for your prayers and your well wishes! You are a beautiful group, that’s certain.
May the Holy Family intercede for all of us throughout the New Year! St. Joseph, protector and guardian of the family, pray for us.
Woops! After reading Suzanne’s comment I checked the date on this post. Our anniversary is the 29th, not the 28th! (I forget to change this on the posting options, having started writing the post on Thursday evening.)
So now you know the real day and can mark it on your calendars! 😉
How lovely!! Congratulations!! What a lovely tribute! I really love the pics!! You have a great smile…it is easy to see that you KNOW how to love life! :o)
Margaret,
A belated congratulations on your 11th anniversary–my dh and I met at a wedding of one of my best friends at which I caught the bouquet and we were married one year later (well actually one day shy of a year!)…what a coincidence–we celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary Dec. 16–your husband’s glasses look a lot like my dh’s did back then! 😉 Many prayers for years of continued blessings!