The Master, The Marriage, and The Mad Dog

So it's not everyday you have a Master in the house.  My husband, the Master.  Normally I would never condone leading your husband to believe he's the Master.  But in this case, I'll let it slide.  It's well deserved, long awaited, and it has finally happened.  Sean has been promoted to Master Sergeant.  When we first started dating he was an airman first class.  I would drive from college to spend the night day with him.  I always hated driving on base.  I'll never forget the first time I went to the base liquor store.  I got out of my car and walked towards the door.  Everything stopped.  Cars stopped driving.  People stopped moving. The Star Spangled Banner  blasted over loud speakers across the base.  What in tarnation?  Is this my grand entrance?  Do they know I'm about to buy grape Mad Dog?  Are they honoring me for my fabulous taste in shit wine?  See, I was charmed by shit even before I even had kids.  I also obviously needed alcohol pre triple treat.  It must have been the premonition of what was to come.  It was 5pm after all.  Maybe this signified the beginning of base happy hour?   Who the hell knows.  I just needed some purple Mad Dog.  Oh, and they did eventually let him marry me.  If only they knew that I slept over.  This may have had a different ending.

Four years of dating, ten years of marriage, a dog, and three kids later,  I no longer drink purple Mad Dog.  And little did I know that our home would become, literally, the home of the brave.  I should have stopped to listen.  Because you have to be brave to live in our house.

Lillian and I had a girl's day.  She wanted to go to the comic book store.  The owner of the store was quite nice.  Lillian was impressed.  She commented on just how nice he was.  But she insisted that just because someone is nice, doesn't mean you should marry them.  Because "you may already have a husband or a wife." Good thing to know right?

I married Sean because he was cute.   And wore a uniform.  And brought me back Sangria from Spain.  And had blond hair.  Okay, so eventually I realized it was black.  It was the Sangria.  Plus he was nice and I didn't already have a husband.

Marriage is hard work.  Marriage with children, even harder.  Sometimes you're communicating well.  Other times, not so much.  Sometimes everything is perfect.  Then... it isn't.  Some years fly by without hardship.  The next year, you're hit hard.  You want to spend every waking minute with each other.  Then you just aim to stay awake for one more minute.  Your spouse and your friends are your world.  Then you have children.  Your life becomes theirs.  Until you finally have a date again. And remember how those children came into the world.

So you want to know why I really married Sean?  He was the first man to call me beautiful instead of cute.  He laughed.  A lot.  It was contagious.  He took me to meet his family.  I was enamored by them.  He drove long distances to see me.  Stealing borrowing cars in the beginning.  My mom told me my eyes sparkled when I looked at him.  He loved me.  He loved my family (they are crazy and plentiful).   I knew he could be an incredible husband and father.  With some hard work of course.  And I knew that I loved love him.  No matter what.  It's my job.  What?  You thought I just stayed home with the kids? 

Ten years used to seem so far away.  I can remember the adventures we dreamed up for what we would do for our ten year anniversary.  You know what we're doing?  Going camping.  Right now, that's a dream.  The two legged kids aren't coming.  Just Finn.  Our first baby.  Our mad dog in this crazy new life.