fruit & flowers.

if you’ve been around the last few years (year one, year two, year three), you’ll remember that Mister Man and i celebrate our anniversary with the traditional gift rules. year four is fruit/flowers.

i think i understand why the gift for the 4th anniversary is fruit and flowers. the 4th year flies by. the 4th year is full of life and work and family and sometimes even pregnancies and lost babies and crazy toddlers. the 4th year feels heavy and light at the same time, full of both newness and familiarity.

and so the flowers and fruit - sweet and fresh - they are a tender and quiet reminder that living life produces beautiful things all on its own. we need that reminder, don't we? because not every anniversary feels momentous for its own sake. because sometimes life keeps you from seeing your growth, but even so, that life is a gift in and of itself. growth happens whether you're paying attention or not, and if you're lucky, you get to grow with someone who produces beautiful fruit and flowers that make you smile down to your very soul.

I'm lucky to get to grow with this guy. Mister Man is everything that i never knew i needed in a husband, a friend, a partner and a co-parent to our children. i don't know how he does it, but with each year that passes he somehow manages to become more self-giving and hardworking. here i am just trying to keep it together, and he makes sure that our family is thriving. and he does it all with a smile (well, mostly...there's an appropriate amount of sass mixed in there too!).

going from just the two of us living in an apartment together in 2012, to owning a house, to raising our sweet Amelia, to going through losses, to expecting our baby zee - that's a lot of growth for any couple to handle. and the sad reality is that many can't handle it. many marriages crumble when life gets a little crazy. but we are here still loving each other more than we did on our wedding day four years ago, through many prayers, endless conversations, and the grace of God.

if the last two years of marriage with a kid has been any indication, year five is going to fly by with two of them. and that's okay, because we'll be flying through it together. hopefully able to take a step back once in a while and appreciate as much of it as we can.

Mister Man: thanks for always cooking dinner with me, for being the best dad and husband in the world, for putting up with my snoogle, and for making this life of ours so much fun to live. i hope that i make you laugh as much as you make me laugh, and i hope that i am loving you half as well as you're loving me.

love & sugar.

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