Thirteen years

One lost parent. Just three weeks after we married. I remember the shock and grief, and I was glad to be there for you.

Two children. Children so obviously ours. They look like you (lucky them) unless they're pouting (which happens so very often). They have your gorgeous eyes and my temperament (oh boy). They're beautiful and smart and funny and emotional and loud. So. Very. Loud.

Three states. Minnesota, where we started our lives together. California, where we had met, and then went back to, and then couldn't wait to leave. Indiana, where we would never have imagined ourselves, but it's working out pretty well.

Four moves. To California, the 2000 mile trip with the 1 year old who decided in Bakersfield that she was done with being in a car. She screamed all the way to West L.A. In rush hour traffic. In California, from the too-expensive ritzy apartment to student housing, where we were cramped, but it was good. To Indiana, the 2000 mile trip with the 3 week old who decided in Colorado that she was done being in a car. Colorado is quite a distance from Indiana. My shoulder still cramps thinking about holding my pinky in her mouth as a pacifier. At least the almost-5 year old was a good traveler. In Indiana, from the mouse-infested (OK, I exaggerate) house to our current home, where I hope to stay a good long time.


Five 'jobs' (for you). From grad student to postdoc to postdoc to lecturer to professor. We made it through all that! And a few more jobs for me.

One neurotic dog. Many dead fish. Countless moments, with the good outnumbering the bad. Some unmentioned number of extra pounds. More gray hairs.

Two weddings, both with plenty of people that at least one of us had never met.

Would I do it again?

Well...

I think maybe eloping would have been a better choice. :)