2 Years of Marriage

2014 [Yesterday]

One evening during the spring of 2004, I was sitting in my dorm room at Centre College, presumably doing some of my homework or laughing with my roommate, and I heard the "ding" of an IM (remember those?) on my laptop.

I got up to check the screen, and saw that I had received the following message:

UncleVchip: do u have a bar of soap?

Weird, right? Here's the conversation that ensued (I am Starr2116, obviously):

UncleVchip: do u have a bar of soap?
Starr2116: Um, what?
UncleVchip: do u have a bar of soap I can borrow?
Starr2116: Borrow? Don't you mean keep? Why do you need soap?
UncleVchip: we are out at hillside [the apartment UncleVchip was living in at the time].
Starr2116: You are completely out? 4 guys and no one has any soap?
UncleVchip: yep. so do u have some?
Starr2116: Yes, I do. 
UncleVchip: can I come over and get it?
Starr2116: Sure. Come outside my dorm room and I'll throw it down to you [we weren't allowed to have boys in our rooms at that time during my Freshman year].
UncleVchip: ok. b there in a min. 

Titillating, right? That was one of the first conversations that I had with my now husband, Ben--who at the time, I simply knew as a friend's ex-boyfriend.

As we celebrated our 2 year marriage anniversary yesterday (the anniversary is officially today, but we celebrated yesterday so we could spend the whole day together), I thought back on this first interaction.

If, that night, someone had told me that 10 years later, I would be bringing UncleVchip a new bar of soap while he was showering in our bathroom in our house on Cape Cod, I would have laughed in their face and then proceeded to bet them 100,000,000 dollars that they would be wrong.

Life is so funny that way, isn't it? It's so wonderfully unpredictable, so wild and crazy, so unexpected! 

Yes, it was super weird for Ben to IM someone he hardly new to ask for a bar of soap, but now that I know him--now that I've been with him for 10 years--I'm not surprised. That's the kind of thing he still does, just in different, more adult, less personal-hygiene-associated ways. 

He's unique, outgoing, not afraid what people will think of him, and not afraid to speak his mind (except, strangely enough, when it comes to conversing with authority figures--including waiters and waitresses), and these are all things that I love about him. Yes, sometimes these attributes can be annoying, but they're mostly wonderful and funny and great ;)  

At our anniversary dinner last night, we talked through all of the things that have happened in our last year of marriage. I won't bore you with them here, but obviously the biggest changes were all associated with our move from DC to Cape Cod; We just can't believe how much our mutual life has changed in 365 days.

It feels crazy to have been with this one person through 10 years' worth of shifts--to have lived in so many places (apart and together), to have worked so many different jobs, to have gone through losses and excitements and fights and vacations and moves and heartbreaks and achievements--all while this person is standing next to you. It's pretty magical. 

Moral of the story?  You just never know what life is going to throw at you. That weirdo who asked you for a bar of soap via IM may end up being your husband 10 years later. In 5 years, you might be living in Austin, or London, or on Cape Cod (that would be fun! Come be my neighbor!). That job you applied to on a whim, even though it's totally not in your wheelhouse, might turn out to be your dream job. That girl you met at that random party last week might become your new BFF, or deliver your baby, or save your life, or become your boss. 

You just never know. So stay open to life, will ya? 

And Happy 2 Year Anniversary, UncleVchip! I can't wait to see what life throws our way in this next year of marriage... 

PS. If you're new to the blog, here are our some of our wedding pics--just in case you, like me, LOVE looking at other people's weddings :)