The goal

Jason and I have been married for a little over a year now. While there have been a few changes, like buying a house, the core of our relationship has not changed.

At our wedding my sister, who was the maid of honor, gave a speech where she said she couldn't come up with "that one story" that would sum up our relationship. She went on to say that it's because we were a "real couple" and that meant we had bad mixed in with the good. She's seen us fight, she's seen us coexist, and she's definitely seen us be lovebirds.

At first I didn't get it. Thanks for saying we didn't have a cute story to share. Or that nothing we did was really all that memorable.

The more I thought about it though, the more it started to make sense to me. I know that people always say "it's the little things" that count, but I don't always see them. I can admit I'm hopelessly romantic, and sometimes that makes it hard for Jason to reach the bar that I've set so high. But that doesn't mean that he doesn't try.

So my aim with this blog is to document all the little things in our relationship that make up the unique coding of us as a couple. The things that should matter more than any fancy dinner or bottle of champagne. The things that will matter to our grandchildren in 50 years when they ask us how we've made our marriage a little stronger each day.

Today is the fourth day of the year, and since we've been together for four years, I'll start with four separate "little things" that have really meant a lot to me.

1. For my birthday my sophomore year of college, Jason coordinated with one of my roommates to leave the door unlocked when she left for class. He managed to sneak into my apartment, leave me a card, a stuffed animal, a picture of us, flowers, a gift and a donut - all while I was asleep in the next room! I shared a class with my roommate that semester, and he met her before class to put another card, another stuffed animal, and another gift on my seat in class. That night he cooked dinner for me and baked me a cake.

2. He humors me in my cultural endeavors. I am a huge fan of Cirque du Soleil, as well as pretty much any live theater. While I know he enjoys many of the shows we have gone to together, I know that he would not have gone to them had it not been for me. And I'm sure there's a play or two that he couldn't care less if we'd missed.

3. When I am sick or not feeling well, he will rub my back and my feet, bring me headache medicine, or buy me chicken noodle soup. When I got strep earlier this year, he went quite a distance to the nearest Boston Market so he could bring me macaroni and mashed potatoes - soft foods that I could eat.

4. He's always looking for ways to make improvements to our house. This is our first big investment as a couple (our cars and educations were both paid for by our parents) and while we know we will eventually build a new house to our specifications, this is really not a bad place to live. Jason is always bringing home extra plants for the backyard, or bringing his guys over to help do some kind of renovation. Today he spent a lot of time taking measurements and drawing out plans for an improvement project we are hoping to tackle soon.


I look forward to taking this journey of bragging on what a wonderful husband I have, and I can't wait to see how much he gives of himself just because he loves me.