8 and looking forward

It has been 8 months today that Thomas and I have been husband and wife. Today we tried to look back at where the time has flown ... how could 8 months have already passed when it seemed like the 18 months it took to get there seemed to creep by? I guess being married is more fun than planning to be married, if time really flies when you're having fun! We've made it to 5 countries (well 4 and Puerto Rico) in the time we've been together. We have remodeled 5 rooms in our home. We have eaten more than is really probably healthy for 2 people. We have worked out morning bathroom time, after-dinner dishes, and bedtime water duty. We're still working on the "indoor/outdoor" dog situation.

Thomas was out of town for the night on Tuesday. I came home from work to a quiet empty house and quickly busied myself cleaning the disaster that was produced by a weekend out of town. I turned on some of my guilty pleasure shows on Hulu, made another guilty pleasure of frozen pizza for dinner and started putting the Simmons household back in order. It was kind of nice to have some time to myself, to watch my own TV and eat whatever I wanted. But then 9:00 hit and time for bed was looming. It's amazing how quickly you become accustomed to the presence of another person in the bed and in your life. I snuggled in, my feet freezing without my personal human foot warmer, and wished for Thomas to be beside me, saying our nightly "thanks" and threatening Dutch ovens. I woke up at least 5 times throughout the night looking for my bed warmer.

Thomas and I made homemade pasta together tonight, laughing and groaning over the melt-in-your-mouth noodles and the rich fruity red wine. I know we're only 8 months into this thing, but it still makes me feel sort of dizzy that there are uncountable moments when I look at Thomas and think, How lucky am I?. Don't get me wrong, we have our moments of driving each other crazy. And, as first years go, I think we've already had a few trials to face with job changes and with Roger's diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, which has truly rocked our world and forced us to learn how to be husband and wife on a whole new level (a whole other post will be required to truly delve into that). But I truly never, ever imagined that there would ever be a person in my life who I would be so transparent to, who I wouldn't afraid or embarrassed to be completely unveiled in front of, and who would love every inch of me physically and personally. Down to my toes and my scars ... the parts I have never let anyone else see voluntarily. Even a child's sweetest fairy tale imaginations couldn't have come close to the way that "true love" can manifest in real life.

This whole post sounds so sappy and cheesy, but there doesn't seem to be a way to explain how incredibly joyous I feel knowing I get to spend 8 more months multiplied by ... I don't know how long ... with Thomas. I really hope that everyone who is married can take a moment everyday to remember the awe of that first year of learning that being married is a mind-boggling thing. And I really, really hope that anyone who hasn't found that person yet will wait until they find the person who makes them feel that transparent, dizzy, safe feeling that I can't get over. Nothing I've done, including traveling - which is a personal favorite thing to do - has yet to compare to being committed and married. I highly recommend it!