Surprise!! You're married!

In the dictionary, marriage is defined 10 different ways.  I don't really relate to any of the definitions I found there and that's mostly because my marriage has always been somewhat of a surprise to me.  I am fully aware of the weirdness of that statement, but let me explain. 

About 16 years ago, Jerry and I were walking around at the mall and for some unknown reason found ourselves in a jewlery store looking at engagement rings.  There was never any pretense to what we were doing.  Never was there a conversation that started with "I want to marry you" or "Let's go look at engagement rings".  Not even a "Do you WANT to marry me??"  But on that particular day something unspoken led us to that jewelry store and it resulted in him purchasing an engagement ring for me.  The ring was left there for re-sizing and we returned a week or so later to pick it up.  The salesperson gave me the ring and I promptly put it in the box and gave it to Jerry.  He gave me one of those confused, eye-brow raising looks that he gives and said, "You don't want to wear it?".  To which I replied, "You haven't asked me to marry you."  So, we promptly left the store and walked directly back out to our car.  As soon as we settled in, Jerry took the ring out and said in an extremely condescending voice "Will you marry me?" and I replied in the same tone "Yes!".  And THEN I let him put the ring on my finger.

I love telling that story! 

Fifteen years ago today, we were married.  We had a rough go of it at first and we each made a lot of mistakes.  But as we got older and grew together, we got wiser.  We have always taken pride in the fact that we, the unlikely couple, have made it as far as we have.  I'm not sure that we had any real supporters when we decided to get married.  I think most people made wagers as to how long it would last! 

Jerry continues to surprise me.  He has become a person that I never realized he had the potential to become.  He owns and operates a successful business with the odds stacked against him.  He gives of his time and money to those who he feels strongly are in need.  He loves his children and strives to be a good example to them.  And most surprising of all, he accepts me.  Bitchy, lazy, mouthy me.  (I can be a little hard to handle at times.)  And don't get me wrong - he has his own undesireable qualities.  But I choose to accept him as he is, also.  I can only hope that I continue to be "surprised" by this marriage for many more years to come.