For You

I won't watch a single episode of LOST without him.  Not one minute, not one trailer, not one preview.  So that makes 69 episodes we've watched together, sprawled out on the couch, debating just how evil Juliette really is - at about 44 minutes per episode we just racked up 3,036 minutes.   Together.

Trips to Lowe's are generally the same.  I pretty much don't go in there without him, and he usually wants me to come along as his sidekick as well.  I'm not sure what it is about Lowe's, besides the fact that (to borrow a phrase from Erin) upon entering the building a giant spinning vortex opens up and sucks at least three hundred dollars out of our bank account.   Maybe that sort of parallel universe is best traversed with a partner, I don't know.  Either way, I can't even begin to tell you exactly how much time we've spent in the Home Improvement Superstore, but my approximation would be about 90 minutes per week for the last 2.5 years.  That's 195 hours, or 17,700 minutes spent.  Together.

In fact, we just generally prefer one another's company to just about anyone else's.  Given the choice, and a few hours of free time, he's gonna call me to see what I'm doing, and whether or not I can slip away from work for the afternoon.  And given the chance, I'm certainly doing some slipping away.  I can't count the number of times we met for a mid-workday lunch only to finish our meal, look at each other, and have one of us say, "you know what would be really fun?" and the other one finish the sentence with "a movie!".  Then we're off to the theater, to see whatever the winner of paper/rock/scissor chooses.  I said I can't count the number of times its happened, but if I had to guess, I'd say at least 20.  And that means 20 lunches, 20 after-lunch-deliberations, and 20 afternoon movie dates.  By my estimation that's 5,400 minutes.  Spent together.

And then there's the sleeping.  We're both champion sleepers.  Nappers, sleeping-in-ers, hit-the-rack-early-ers, we can do them all.  And of course we prefer to spend our sleeping time curled up right next to each other.  As the past few years have gone by, we've added a few more bodies to the bed in the form of two cats and a big ol' German Shepherd, but the sleeping still happens with beautiful regularity and consumes incredible chunks of time.  Hard to guess how many minutes we've spent sleeping together.  Let's just go with 525,600.  Together, naturally.

When we moved back to East Texas, we did it together.  This house?  We built it together.  When we discovered that the blossoming business we had purchased from some not-so-trustworthy people was NOT actually blossoming, we discovered it together.  When we had to sue those awful people, we did it together, and when the lawsuit drug on for nearly two years, we waited together.  When his first job here took a turn for the unexpected, we hung in there together.  And when he started his own practice, in the midst of the turmoil of a lawsuit and with a wife who brought home no appreciable income of her own, we did it together.  When the lawsuit finally ended with a big fat (and well-deserved) victory, we celebrated together.  And when he jogged through the first-year marker of his practice with flying colors, well, we celebrated that as well.  Together.

There's been house-building, job-losing, financial near-disaster-having, cat-raising, dog-picking, marathon-running, vacation-taking, movie-watching, kitchen-experimenting, wedding-guesting, funeral-attending, and baby-birthing.  And we've done it all together.

It's only been three years, and I love him more right now than I ever knew was possible.  He totally understands me, he totally accepts me, and he somehow manages to find my Crazy Moments endearing. 

Considering all that we've done in the 1,576,800 minutes we've spent together thus far, I can only imagine what's yet to come.  Hopefully it includes a big boat, long stretches of uninterrupted time, and no fishing spiders.

Happy anniversary, Cody.  I love you.

Comments

[Chiada]

Awww, that is so sweet! And may I mention that now I feel like I need to get my forth-coming post up to par with yours because... today is our anniversary too!!! Wowee, how cool is that? Except we are a few years ahead of you.

Happy Anniversary, you two!

[Hoover]

I realize that now isn't the most appropriate time to go into this - but Juliette is not evil. No matter what you and RC say.

Seriously though, great post. The adjective I would use for it is... "frameable".

[Cassie]

Happy Anniversary, Elise! Ours is actually tomorrow...Three years for us, too. What a gorgeous post!

[alyndabear]

Happy Anniversary! You sound like a great match. :D

[Devi]

Lovely post. Thanks :). Happy anniversary, Elise.

[janet]

best anniversary post ever! congrats on starting your fourth year of marriage. (That's how you like to say it, right?)

[wordgirl]

I've never watched "Lost", but I did finally check out part of the first season from Blockbuster. I feel as though I'm on the threshold of an obsession.

[Lucy Dee]

I had a relationship that was exactly like this--just hours and hours in good company. I think the word 'relationship' is too strong a word---more like a friendship. And it turned out that's all it was. Anyway, my heart was broken in the end. It's a bit too touchy to talk about in my standup comedy, but maybe one day.

Good thing you actually found requited love! Sorry to bring the house down!

Congratulations! Happy Anniversary! And to many more!

[Lena]

Oh honey, Lexus SUVs here are so done with, it's all about the Jags. Yes, the money has grown as well as the accessory also known as cleavage. This my last week in this world though, I work on Herschel and Lemmon (familiar with D Magazine? haha) right now, but heading to a more humble area of the metroplex..and I can't wait. No more Gore Park Easter Egg Hunts or after hours at Al Biernet's for me!

[Dory]

Oh my gosh, that was beautiful! Speaking from experience, it's even better 12 years in than it is 3 years in. Here's hoping that it gets even better and the blessings multiply exponentially.

[M&Co.]

Oh that's sweet. To me a childless newlywed again.

[Lindsey]

That was such a beautiful post. It made me appreciate my man just a little bit more, too.

[cody's friend]

Elise
As sweet as that sounds I must warn you. He aunt worth it and you should leave him now. A good friend jimmy Bonner once wrote a song about Cody. The lyrics went a little something like this.

"Everybody knows my name
They say it way out loud
A lot of folks fuck with me
It's hard to hang out in crowds
I guess that's the price you pay
To be some big shot like I am
Out stretched hands and one night stands
Still I can't find love"

Sorry I waited till year 3.