Thanks giving, Week 1

Yesterday was Wes's 31st birthday. It is amazing to me that Wes and I have been together for 9 1/2 years now. Nine years ago, Wes and I celebrated his 22nd birthday. We got dressed up, had a dance lesson, and went out to dinner. A few weeks later, he met my family at my oldest brother's wedding. And the rest, as they say, is history. Here we are -- married, in careers, parents. And happy. The last few months have been a challenge. I don't think we expected to miss Chicago as much as we do. I certainly didn't expect to feel the move as much as I did, having moved so much growing up. And though I have friends there, it's not so much the people that I miss -- I'm used to maintaining relationships long distance -- it's the place. It's the feeling I got being there. It's the memories we made there. Wes I got married while he was in medical school, but our marriage really took shape in Chicago. The people that knew us there only knew us as husband and wife. We had fun there. We became a married couple. We grew as individuals, but we grew into each other. We made and had a baby. We became "us."

Wes and I have a good marriage. It is unusual to some, I suppose. I think the best word to describe us is well-matched. Wes and I make sense together. It's not something that I can explain necessarily. It just is. We are better people together than we are alone.

I often hear friends who say of their husbands, "He's the best husband in the world." I don't know that I would ever say that about Wes, and I don't think he would ever say it about me. Not because I don't love him or think he's a great husband. I do. Very much so. He always supports me, he cares about what I think, and he tries to make me happy. But Wes isn't perfect, and he doesn't always know what I need from him has a husband. We're both learning as we go. This I do know: he is a great man, and he is my best friend. Perhaps Wes said it best when he told me that I am the best wife he's ever had. Not as romantic maybe, but true -- and truly sweet.

When Wes and I got married, we wrote our own wedding vows. I said in those vows that I didn't want a fairy tale but something real. And that is what we have. It's up and down, it's hard sometimes, and it's so very special.

So this week, I am thankful for Wes, my husband and my best friend.