Tomorrow I will be married 23 years, to the same person. That is half my life , sharing everything with one man.  It seems that a marriage that lasts 23 years is something like Big Foot; People claim to have seen it, it is fuzzy and unrecognizable in pictures , and is very rare indeed. I think it is an accomplishment to have been in a marriage this long, and I think an accomplishment deserves recognition, especially in our society of "disposable "everything. There were times, I'm not going to lie, where throwing it away would've been the easy road. So I think my marriage deserves a trophy, or maybe even a plaque. Yeah, a plaque. It would have to a 16x20 size, to fit everything it needs to say on it, but I have the wall space . It would say what the last 23 years have given us and would go something like this:
                      Over the last 23 years, Steve and Krista Davidson have had...
                 - Three beautiful children, spaced perfectly apart . Well ,perfectly if you want to be on PTA's for life and never want to finish a payment plan for braces or college funds.
                  - A mortgage(a few, actually). On a house that we could barely afford 6 years into our marriage . But then when we could afford the payments, someone (Steve) decided to shorten the term (twice) making it ...you guessed it ..difficult to afford AGAIN.  But thanks to that special , long term thinker we are almost done not affording it, and are actually pretty close to owning it.. outdated kitchen , leaky roof and all!
                    -Many sleepless and angry nights, which is the likely outcome when 2 people who are opposites in every possible way decide to live together FOREVER. We have a "type A " personality trying to mesh with a proverbially "Mr. Easy Going", a Southerner trying to learn how to cope with a girl from Queens , and a well known thrifty shopper constantly paying for things the , shall we say, "non thrifty" shopper brings home. (a lot of those things are ALIVE). The old saying "Opposites Attract" is so very true, but opposites also fight like rabid dogs over the course of 23 years.
                     - A life of love, laughter , happy tears, pride and discovery have also filled these 23 years , outweighing the financial and personality problems.

                       This may be way too much to fit on a plaque, and maybe that's why it is silly to think that such an accomplishment can be measured in this manner.  It is measured in days and nights of learning exactly what "I do " meant all those years ago... And we are still learning. I don't know what the next 23 years will bring, but whatever they do at least I know I won't find out alone.
                        Here's to the next 23....Happy Anniversary Steve.