Eleven Magical Years

On September 15th,  Mike and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary.  It was a different sort of celebration this year.  I celebrated by hauling 4 boys to two soccer games, and one football game.  Mike celebrated thousands and thousands of miles, away on the other side of the world, in Velore India.   (somehow we manage to miss a lot of B-days together and anniversaries due to high adventure, girls camp, work conferences, etc..)  During the hauling, feeding, and wrestling of the kiddos I couldn't help but think how "unmagical" this anniversary was.  I didn't have my sweetheart by me and he wouldn't be home for days.  This wasn't what I anticipated my anniversary to be like as a young woman.
I remember as a teenager thinking that life needed to be "magical", ALL OF THE TIME, particularly in the romance category.  Magical meant always having a swooning, twiterpated feeling for your significant other, having them surprise you with romance night and day.  Every waking moment was wrapped around you and he never had another thought in his mind other than how to woo you and vice versa.  Your lives were lived for each other..and the swooning would go on and on and on..
Thinking of my definition of magical back then made me laugh a little, and be grateful that we get to grow and mature.  I was grateful to know that although a relationship changes from initial excitement to mature unity, it can still be magical.  I realized as I put the last child back in bed for the third time, that although it wasn't the perfect scenario, this eleventh anniversary of ours with him being in India of all places, it was magical. 
It was magical to me that our marriage could handle it, that I was happy to be a single mom for a time and support him.  It's magical to me that he knows me and supports me and is OK when I just start talking to him like a million miles a hour when he walks in the door each evening.  It's magical that we love each other more and work better together now than we did 11 years ago when we started this team.  We HAVE lived for each other.  Every moment together, has been accumulating into a life and relationship that is significantly bigger than either of us alone, a life and eternity full of promise and hope.   Even the insignificant moments of family life, grow into something beautiful that we share and that binds us together stronger.  It is magical to have complete trust in someone.   It's magical to know that Mike has seen me at my worst and rarely at my best, and yet loves me still.  That is magical to me.  It's magical that we have worked hard together, cried together, shared disappointments together, laughed together, moved together, schooled together, shared trials and joys together.  It's magical that we know each other so well and can anticipate each others thoughts and feelings and usually be right.  It's magical to look into the four cutest little boy faces and see Mike's long eyelashes staring back at me.  It's magical to try to figure this parenting thing out together.  It still fills my heart with twiterpation and love when I see His face smile at me, I never will get sick of feeling his arms around me and hearing him laugh, and I love the feeling of him reaching out and taking my hand.  As I looked at the beautiful roses on the table that had been waiting for me on the doorstep after a windy, raining, football game I was so grateful to have shared eleven years with the man of my dreams, my own Epitome.  I look forward to many more "magical" years together.