Nine Years

A little vintage KP & ADP.

I have a cold and am a wuss, which means that I have been down for the count, as Mom would say. Last night, KP kindly drove me to drop off some paperwork across town. I complained about him not magically making me dinner on his way home from work and he tuned me out. On the way back down South I thought, this man is really good to me. If he was complaining about something so unreasonable, I would bite his head off or at least take a little chunk out of his arm.

At that moment, I realized that we have been together for nine years. NINE years.

We don't have a dating anniversary. KP squelched that early on. He didn't want to have to celebrate another "holiday" until we were stuck together for life. I guess that "I was his girl" sometime around the birthday I turned 20. Seriously, the way I knew we were official was that he introduced me as his girl. I still remember how nervous and excited those words made me feel. In this laid-back, severely understated way, he told me I had his heart.

Back to the car. After realizing that I have almost spent one-third of my life with this sweet, funny, wild man, I said, "Babe, did you know that we have been together for nine years? It certainly doesn't feel like nine years." He said, "Hm, feels longer?" I said, "No. It feels like time has flown. I can remember being 20 so well." He said, " I wonder what the rest will feel like." I said, "hopefully, an eternity."

In a Nyquil induced stupor, I woke this morning to pitchers of Gatorade and Orange Juice. And as an added bonus, KP did the dishes and put up all of the laundry. I am so grateful for his thoughtfulness. Happy nine-year-non-anniversary, KP.