5 Years

We've been married for 5 years. Has it really been 5 years? Wow. People always make a fuss about the milestones that end in 0 or 5. I'm not usually one for fussing over sap, but I do think it's fun to look back. Here are some very random musings about our last several years together (and a few additional comments from Jon who has approved this message).

We met in college when I was a freshman and he was a senior. I have no recollection of this, but Jon claims to remember everything. Typical.

But here's the funny thing about Jon's memory. He can tell you his locker combination from high school (21-35-17) and what movie he saw on vacation in 1993 (Jurassic Park), but he has a tendency to forget what I told him 10 minutes ago. It's amazing really.

Even though we met when I was a freshman, Jon didn't ask me out until I was a junior. (She said "maybe.") He likes to procrastinate.

I told my roommate (Hi Audrey!) before our first date that I was going to marry Jon. Yes, I really did. I know it sounds crazy, and I could write an entire book on what prompted me to say it, but for the sake of brevity, it goes something like this: sometimes you just know.

The best part about the actual wedding was being surrounded by so many loved ones. It was such a happy day. Sometimes when I'm ridiculously happy, my nose crinkles. My nose crinkled a lot that day. As evidenced here:

 Here:

Here:

Look at our hairs. This photo says one thing to me: future ginger babies. 

 And here:

Maybe I should have been a little less happy so I didn't make a pug face in all the photos. [Btw, all wedding photos were taken by Benfield Photography. Dale & Meredith are fantastic. I was a little embarrassed to learn the other day that Dale has been reading my blog. My photos are terrible. Their photos are decidedly not.]

Many years ago before I was even in the picture, Jon's dad joked about Jon marrying a girl from North Dakota. It was the most far-away place that came to his mind. I love that.

Just like many years before that, my mother joked about me never living in D.C. It was the most far-away and crime-ridden place that came to her mind. I love that too.

Never say never. That's the only way to guarantee that something will absolutely happen.

Number of Packers games we've been to: nine. Including a trip to Green Bay for our first anniversary. Love God. Love each other. Love football. That's basically our motto.

Number of baseball games we've been to: we've lost count. It's been a lot. We love baseball and the Nationals too. It's on our bucket list to visit every major league ballpark. I can't wait for all of those hot dogs. Mmmmmm, hot dog.

They say opposites attract, but I think similar people stay together. I'm going to let you in on a crazy secret about marriage: you spend a lot of time together. A lot. I don't know about you, but I can only spend so much time with opposites before it drives me a little nuts.

Jon has been known to elbow me in the head while sleeping. He even head-butted me once. That was big fun. Sometimes he'll carry on a complete conversation while he's sleeping. The other night he took my pillow and hung onto it for dear life. His favorite time to shove his bright phone into my face to show me something funny or interesting is that glorious moment right after I've just fallen asleep. It's a wonder I get any sleep, but, of course, I don't sleep a wink when he's not there.

Gingers are stubborn. Mine is no different.

We laugh all the time. We laugh at each other. We laugh at ourselves. We laugh at inside jokes. We disagree and then laugh about how silly it was 5 minutes later. If you're not laughing, you're doing it wrong.

In the last 5 years, we've had more arguments about fantasy football than anything else. I think this says a lot about us: 1) We're both way too competitive; and 2) we must be doing something right if the only thing we argue about is something as trivial (MAJORLY IMPORTANT) as fantasy football.

Our best trip: Spain to Italy. I wake up most mornings secretly hoping we're actually in Italy. Here's a little recap of that trip:

Our worst trip: I really can't think of a bad one. We are great travel buddies. We both love to travel like octogenarians. We make plans, we take road trips, we stay at B&Bs, we leaf peep, we drink wine, we eat great food, we go to bed early, we sleep late, we take guided tours, and we love every minute of it.

Once I'm in bed for the night, I really hate getting up. But I usually remember at least 3 things I've forgotten to do or bring with me before hopping into bed. For the last 5 years, Jon has fetched things for me without complaint so I can stay tucked in bed. Does this mean I'm lazy? Absolutely. Does this also mean Jon is incredibly sweet? Absolutely.

One time while I was helping Jon pick out new glasses, the clerk asked if we were brother and sister. I told her, "Yep. We're related. And we're married." Jon is from Arkansas, but I hope she knows I was joking. 

I bake. Jon cleans up the mess. It's the perfect marriage. Pun intended.

Speaking of puns, I had no idea just how much Jon loved puns until it was too late. There are hundreds of puns in my future. Hundreds. (Thousands.) That thought is somewhat distressing.

Jon makes it his mission to intentionally bother me and/or push my buttons. He LOVES getting a reaction out of me. I know this could all stop if I stopped reacting, but I'm completely incapable of ignoring his antics. Some of his favorites are asking me really loud embarrassing questions in public, fist-pumping to the most ridiculous songs on the radio while driving, or when he told me he buried a dirty word somewhere in this post and I believed him. Sigh. 

We made it through our first home renovation. (Barely.) We can make it through anything.

And now, a very brief history of us in photos:

The very first photo we ever took together. 

The day before we got married. It was already going really well.

Our first Christmas as a married couple. 

New Years in New Orleans. 

Frozen wedding cake = not so good.

Snowmageddon during our first winter in D.C.
I love snow and I thought this was a good sign about the future
prospect of snow in D.C., but it's basically never snowed since then.

Sunburned in Costa Rica.

Playoff football in Philly - the year we won the Super Bowl. :)

U.S. Open Golf. 

Sunsets in Maine. 

Crabs on the eastern shore in Maryland. 

Boating in Bermuda. 

Winning the NL East! GO NATS!

Celebrating Jon's 30th birthday with good food and good friends. 

This might be my favorite photo ever. It's just so us.
I really wish I could remember what we were talking about. (Baseball.)

The best part about milestones? They are great excuses to celebrate. We're headed to Primland in southern Virginia today. Just after we made the reservation, we got the best call ever. They had overbooked the room we requested so "could they upgrade us to a treehouse at no additional charge?" Yeah, I don't think that will be a problem...

It's going to be a very Swiss Family Robinson chic weekend.

Five great years and many, many more to come. That's enough to make a girl crinkle nose happy.