Happy Anniversary!

There is about six minutes left of our fourth anniversay. For the second year in a row Grover and I are not in the same state on our anniversary... which honestly is fine. We have never made a huge deal about it. Not even on the day we got married! Four years ago today I was three months pregnant with Lysander, Grover was hours away from leaving for six months for basic training and AIT, and we were running around trying to get everything done before he left. One of the things on our to do list was "Go get married". Honestly, it just made sense to get it on paper. I was pregnant, military insurance is amazing, and rather than pay through the nose to have our first child, I should be able to get on his insurance.
I don't mean to sound like I only wanted to marry him for practical reasons. I was, and still am, madly in love with him. The reason I waited so long was because I was holding on to a dream of a big beautiful wedding and big white princess dress. I just didn't want to get married in a court house. But get married in a court house I did, and I've never looked back. We've only ever looked forward in our marriage.
The day we got married we were looking forward to the next day when we'd start our six months apart. We were looking forward to the birth of our first son, Lysander. We were looking forward to being together again, as a family. Our frist six months of marriage was hard, but good. I think we both grew stronger being individuals during that time. We also grew more in love. Being away from him for that long made me that much more firm in the fact that I didn't WANT to be away from him. Did not WANT to, but I COULD be. I could survive being on my own. That was important for me to know as I had lived in my own appartment by myself for all of three months before I moved in with Grover. Even more important later on in our marriage as that was just the first of quite a few seperations we would have to go through.
What's funny is, we spent our first and second anniversaries together... but not our third and now our fourth. I have NO memory of what we did on our first and second anniversary. Our first anniversary we had a seven month old, and our second anniversary we had a 19 months old and a three month old. Our third anniversary I don't specifically remember either, mostly because we almost forgot about it all together. Grover was in Arizona finishing up his officer training and that's why we weren't together. This year he's in Seattle training for deployment to Iraq.
I think, as I remember the day we got married very clearly, I will also be able to remember our fourth anniversary fairly clearly. Partially because I'm writing about it in my blog. Mostly because I got up this morning, showered, got dressed and put on make up so that I could have a Skype date with my husband. Then about five seconds after we hung up on Skype, my doorbell rang and delivered to me was a basket of potted roses. They were potted roses because I am planning on planting a garden. So this way I have a rose bush to put in my garden which will forever after be our anniversary bush. :) Grover didn't send me just flowers, he sent me flowers with thought behind it. Last but not least, he called 20 minutes before midnight to make sure he talked to me again before it wasn't our anniversary anymore.
That's why I married him. Not because we were pregnant and the insurance was better, but because he gets me, and he takes the time to be thoughtful. No matter the distance, we still find ways to make sure we love eachother. All that being said, I much prefer being as close as possible to one another! :)
Now, yet again, we are looking forward. Looking forward to three weeks from now when he's home for three days. Looking forward to the adventure that it will be going through our first deployment experience. Looking forward to a fifteen day R&R at some point during the year. Looking forward to when he's done with the deployment. Also, looking forward to every day in between. As much as it's good to look forward, to move forward, you have to live in the moment. He has to enjoy the experience of being in Iraq and doing his duty. I will be enjoying every single moment of my children and their next year of growth, excitement and laughter.
There is one last thing I'll be looking forward to.... The year 2014... the year I will turn thirty... the year Grover will turn 40... and the year we will celebrate our 7 year anniversary late, or our 8 year anniversary early. The year that we will be going to Italy and having the wedding I've always dreamed of. A little smaller... a few less people... but also two more people who I am so blessed to say will be at my wedding. Lysander and Isaac will be there to share in the experience with us. Rest assured... 7 and a half years later or not, there will still be a FABULOUS dress. Better late than never!
Happy Anniversary G! Love you. :)