Good Year

I need to get in bed with my hubby since I'm going to be away for the next three nights, but I was inspired to do a quick post.

First order of business: Allow me to be slightly inappropriate and blow my own horn for a minute here to tell you that I'm singing the Alto part with two men in a trio at the 11:00 AM service at Trinity on October 12. Afterwards, we're having a little birthday picnic for Paul at our place. Linda is bringing Paul's favorite, Pineapple Upside-down Cake, and the rest of the menu is TBD but will probably involve some grilled food and pasta salad. YOU are invited!! If you want to come to the picnic but can't make it to church, you should get here around 1:00 PM. Please let me know if you're coming by, let's say, Thursday, October 9.

Anyway...

So one of Paul's relatives sent us an anniversary card to 204 North 11th Street, which I'm pretty sure doesn't even exist (the house number OR the "North" bit), but after it was returned to her she sent it to Paul's parents' house, so we just got it tonight when we went out to dinner for Linda's birthday. It was a nice card, with a nice note inside, and now I'm feeling mushy and would like to reflect on my first year of marriage.

It's been awesome.

We talk, and tease, and poke fun, and fight, and yell, and cry, and make up, and hold hands, and kiss, and say "I love you" a lot.
We have lots of great conversations, and sometimes we just sit and stare off into space.
Paul gets mad at me for not doing dishes enough (he always does them), and I get mad at Paul for not turning off the basement light. Ever.
We still have boxes that have never been unpacked, but we've painted two rooms and installed a very nice kitchen where before we had next to nothing.
We cook a lot, and eat out sometimes, and joined the YMCA but don't use it enough; sometimes we take walks, and sometimes we go on hikes, and we still don't have TV and even so we rarely watch our Netflix movies.
I always clutter up the couch and Paul always balls up his socks or takes them off inside-out.
We can't keep the living room clean.
Even though we own a washer and dryer, I still don't do laundry often enough, and we both run out of underwear.
I'm singing in choir and playing in bell choir, and Paul is working on improving the church's computer room and starts his first HACC math class this Tuesday.
I love hearing the stories Paul has to tell about working at Killian Fireplace Centre.
Whenever we drive anywhere, I scratch Paul's head or rub his arm, and we're both calm and happy.
We drag each other to stuff the other doesn't want to do, and end up both having a good time anyway.
We have fun hanging out with Paul's friend, and with my friends, so now they're all just OUR friends.
We snuggle in bed every night.

October will be the first month of our second year in this apartment; we plan to buy a house in time to move out before next October. (Make checks payable to "Paul and Meredith A____" and write "House fund" in the subject line! Haha.)

It has been the best year of my life, and next year is going to be even better.

I am going to go snuggle right now, since I'll be sleeping alone the next three nights!