what are my plans??

plans? other than changing diapers, bathing children, reading stories, working, cooking dinner, laundry, i umm have no plans. first i think i have stephen to thank for part of this - after all it was his christening that started this story.
it was a dark time - well it doesn’t seem that way now but it sure was then. i was a single mom with two very small boys, a job, a house, a standard car i just learned to drive, i was drowning in responsibility - alone. this life wasn’t rolling out as i had planned. while i was skipping along i fell into a pothole of misery - i had laid there for a while but there is always something worth getting up for. especially if two children are expecting you to.
so on that sunny september day i met this guy - he was
nice enough, quiet, i laughed a little - he was funny. i remember not having laughed for a while - at the end of the evening he helped me carry out my empty dishes from some delicious food that i had made (his words not mine) i found out much later that he ran my license plate that evening to see where i lived. (he liked me) he must have thought i was hot with that cool baby bag and that low maintenance mom hairdo. a few weeks later at another gala event – a grammar school reunion – one that i had not wanted to attend - i ran into that nice guy again. i knew he attended my catholic grammar school but he was older than me and dutifully he would not be talking in the school yard to girls - especially ones that bent rules. even during band practice he never looked away from his clarinet. he, after all was a rule abiding citizen even then. at the very end of the day he asked if i would like to attend the policeman’s ball. it was called a ball but in reality it was more like a christmas party that was free. (as the years have past i learned how much this guy likes free things) i agreed to go - what else was i doing with my exciting life? that night was filled with enough entertainment for a post in itself. but i do remember one thing - i laughed again that day. laughing seems silly but i gotta tell you it has gotten me through some tricky times. time moved on and i realized no one would be better suited to helping me raise these kids. he could make me laugh when frankly they did some things that weren’t that funny. i.e. rolling the car out of the driveway and almost running over a neighbor. so a few years later on new years eve he had something up his sleeve and a ring in his pocket. suddenly he and I had turned into we + two. something whispered in my head – remember shared joy is double joy, shared laughter is double laughter. so on this day 20 years later i have to say thanks – thanks for helping me raise those incredible little kids who are now men and adding a little beauty queen to the mix. thanks for taking a chance on me, you still make me laugh every day.

happy anniversary. i love you.

Anniversary \an•ni•ver•sa•ry\ n, pl -ries 1. a date that is observed on an annual basis because it is the same date as an important event in a past year, often the date of somebody's wedding 2. a celebration or other commemorative ritual marking the date of an important event, often a wedding