Happy Anniversary!

Today is my 7-year anniversary! To say I've reached a milestone would be an understatement. I married the love of my life on Tuesday, January 29, 2002, at the courthouse in Shalimar, Florida. Randy was in the middle of 'Chiefs Week' on Hurlburt Field, a mandatory requirement after making Chief Master Sergeant. We wanted to get married before he deployed to Afghanistan and since I was leaving the following weekend for a pain management course in San Antonio, Texas, that was the only time we could do it. We didn't tell anyone except Keri MacDonald and Mike Mahowald, who went with us. Randy left during the middle of a golf tournament, met us at the courthouse, and returned two holes later, never telling anyone why he'd left. The next day I drove to Tennessee to pick up his mom for the Chief's Induction ceremony at the end of the week, we never told her. We did tell my mom though and she sent a gorgeous arrangement of fresh-cut flowers. It wasn't until after I returned from Texas (Randy had already deployed) that everyone we worked with started figuring things out - after all, my name had changed!

It's been 7 wonderful years, of which I have so much to be thankful for. Baby, you've given me two wonderful, beautiful daughters. You are my soulmate, my sounding board, my voice of reason, the go-to for everything! I rarely do anything without your input. You've taught me how to see more than one side to every situation and we make a pretty good team when it comes to figuring things out. You've been there for me when my illness has made me an extremely difficult person to be with, you've called me on the carpet when I've been wrong, you see the person I try to be when many others only see the person I am perceived to be. I cannot imagine my life without you. You are my everything.

So Happy Anniversary baby! Here's to many, many more!

I love you!