Happily ever after...happy, happy, happy

This past Tuesday was our anniversary. We've been married for two years. We didn't really do anything to celebrate, unless you count eating breakfast burritos together on the couch right before Brad headed out to work. We're very classy like that, y'all. We had originally thought about going out to dinner, but thankfully, we remembered that our church neighborhood group would be meeting at our house that evening. Whew. Close call.

We haven't been married terribly long, but it's definitely been long enough for me to think through all of the preconceived thoughts I used to have about love and marriage. (Seriously, in the grand scheme of life, two years isn't that long; but, that's a goodly length of time to have illusions modified). 

I grew up as quite a reader, so from a young age, I had all of those iconic males imprinted on my mind. You know who I'm talking about: Gilbert Blythe, Mr. Darcy, Mr. Knightley, Colonel Brandon. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I guess I knew that those guys weren't completely realistic, but I mean, a girl can dream. And most of us do. We build up these images of fellas that spend SO much time thinking about us and plotting how to make us happy with every spare moment. They wait for us, think we're charming even when we're being dramatic, and we really can't do much wrong in their eyes. Oh, and they're always terribly attractive and the envy of all other girls.

Being married has cleared up some of those misconceptions for me. Don't misunderstand me: Brad is the very best in the whole world. I think he's ridiculously attractive and awesome. And, all those other girls best be staying clear of him. Despite all of that...he gets annoyed with me from time to time (can you believe that?), he doesn't actually spend every waking moment (or even every free moment) thinking about me, and he's not constantly plotting to make me happy with over-the-top, grand gestures. Kind of a shocker right at first. I think I'm always charming and am just pure joy and sunshine every waking moment (right, Ame?), but apparently, that's not always the case. What??

Although the romance rarely looks like it does through Gilbert's eyes, I've picked up on how it translates into my real life: Brad makes sure all of the bills are paid and that there will be electricity when I flip on the lights or water when I brush my teeth. He makes sure that Claire and I have health insurance and food in the pantry. He takes the trash out and kills the spiders. He held my hair a LOT when I was pregnant and sick. When I was in the hospital, he held my head and helped me get to the bathroom. He changes a lot of diapers and takes many a turn taking care of Bearsy so I can get other things done. He runs to the store to pick up the tissues with lotion when my nose is running like crazy and hurts like all get-out. He vaccuums (because I hate vaccuuming). He researches the best deals on buying things online. He remembers to get the car washed- including the undercarriage- so that the road salt doesn't corrode the car. He gets up in the middle of the night to check the house alarm when I hear things that go bump in the night and get the heebie jeebies.

He also finds deals on restaurant meals so that he can take me out on dates. He looks for fun trips for us to take around New England so that we can get the most out of our time here. He sends me text messages just to say he misses me while at work. He watches Tangled over and over because he knows how much I like it. He buys me flowers and frozen yogurt. 

So, it looks nothing like Mr. Darcy, but oh man. If those things don't say, "I love you in real life," I don't know what does. It makes me happy, happy, happy.