19 Years and 19 Pounds Ago...

March 10th will be Mr.4444 and my wedding anniversary. Here's our engagement photo (We were both 26). Can you guess the year?
(What a cutie!)

Does he look like a man terrified of marriage? Well, let me tell you, he was. After six years (well, really after four) I seriously got tired of his foot-dragging, avoiding, and whining,

"I'm not ready. When I'm ready, you'll be "the one" for sure, but I'm just not ready now."

"When will you be ready?" I'd ask.

He'd always say he didn't know.

Finally one day, I forced him to sit down with me and do some "soul searching." We each privately wrote a list of what we expected out of marriage. I thought deeply and came up with a list of 5-6 things like, "Being partners. Sharing parenting and household responsibilities, trusting each other, etc."

His list? One thing (and no, it wasn't sex!): "To spend the rest of my days making you happy." (No wonder he was terrified, heehee.)

On a serious note, though, it came down to his being afraid that once we got married, the "ball and chain" would come out, and he would no longer be able to go hunting, fishing, etc. with his friends and would have to stay home and entertain me. I told him, "Mark, if you stopped doing those things, you wouldn't be you anymore, and I want to marry the man I know; the guy who loves the outdoors and knows how to have fun with the guys but remember where he lives. Trust me; I'll be happy to have the house to myself when you're gone; I'm not going to be crying myself to sleep over Deer Camp."

So, I pushed him down the aisle and tied his ankle to the altar. Obviously, he decided to trust me, and boy, is he glad. Nineteen years later (25 together), that man is the poster child for "Happily Married," and he never misses a day of telling me so.

The only thing that scares him now is Kendall bringing her first boyfriend home. (Funny; his list of expectations for that is a lot longer!)