My Team Mate

I was reminded recently about the first conversation my husband and I ever had. It happened about 12 years ago in Toronto, and I honestly still remember every detail about it. Where we were, how I was standing, how fast my heart was beating, what he looked like, what we said, and most importantly...what he was wearing. Because the entire conversation was about what he was wearing. Matt was wearing a Homestar Runner hoodie (side note - if you don't know who Homestar Runner is, please go and google it and spend the next hour or several immersing yourself in the comedy gold that is Homestar. Thank me later.) and I worked up the nerve to comment to him that I too was a fan and had my own hoodie. The rest, as they say, is history. (And for the record, he still has the hoodie).

Matt and I have been through a lot together over the past 12 years, the last 5 and a bit of which we've been married for, and the last 2 we've been parents. It certainly hasn't been boring, although it hasn't all been fun. One thing that has remained constant however is that my life is better with him in it. I am better with him doing life with me and together, as a team, we can tackle life heaps better then we ever could alone.

I've told the story plenty of times how on our wedding night I gave Matt a stack of letters that I had written to him years before I had ever met him. Some were silly ramblings of an immature and naive teenager, while others contained prayers and hopes for the husband I had yet to meet. I didn't know exactly how that moment would play out when these letters I had been holding on to for 10 years were finally placed in my brand new husbands hand, and I was honestly feeling quite embarrassed and nervous to give him such an open view to my inner thoughts and feelings from before I knew him. But he received them with silent awe as I explained what they were, and then proceeded to read through them one by one with tears in his eyes. He stopped every now and then as he corresponded the dates the letters were written to what he was going through at the time I had written it and we were both blown away by how prayers were written in times that he needed them most.

It's always good to remember where you've come from so that you can learn from past experiences, but also so that you can have a better idea of how to handle what has yet to come. When I look back what I know is that Matt is my best friend, and the best team mate I could ever ask for. Life is heaps more fun, interesting, bearable, exciting and possible because I have him by my side. I am blessed to know him, blessed to call him my husband, and blessed to have him as the father of my child.