He is still my Best Friend!

   Today Jeff and I celebrate 33 years of marriage!  We met when I was 19, officially started dating 6 months later when I was 20, got engaged on my 21st birthday and got married that following Spring.  Sometimes it just amazes me that the minute I met Jeff, I just felt this instant connection to him.  It only took us 6 months to run into each other again after that. 😉  From that moment on, we were a couple and spent every bit of time we could with each other.  Our relationship has always been built on the solid foundation of being friends first  From the very beginning, we could talk about anything and became each others biggest encourager, supporter, sounding board to bounce ideas off of.  No one knows us as well as we know each other.  We have shared our deepest secrets, fears, dreams, successes and sorrows together.  We are totally honest with each other and will let the other one know if we think that they could have handled something differently. 😉 We both have each other's backs and our love is, has and will always be unconditional.  Jeff has fully embraced my parents, brothers, sister, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents as his own and they have done the same for him.  He shares a very special relationship with them and for that I am so thankful to him and to them.  He and  I also remain close to some of his cousins, one of my former sister in laws and her husband, and our oldest niece and her beautiful family.   We also love our youngest niece and hope that once she turns 18 and can make her own decisions in life, that we can rebuild our relationship with her.  They are all amazing people and we love them dearly.  We are choosing to focus on those that love and support us and not on the "the others".

   Jeff and I could have never imagined all those years ago the great joy of becoming parents and watching our children grow into the most amazing adults and start their own families.  Back then, being grandparents seemed to be so far off in the distant future but now here we are with a 6 year old, a 4 year old and a 9 month old!  We now have these amazing daughters that came into our family when they married our boys and hope to add another one in the near future. 

   My husband is a gift, given to me by God.  He has and continues to stick by my side through my debilitating illnesses that have taken years to get a proper diagnosis on.  He has really stepped up and taken on more and more of the daily responsibilities of running our home and making it easier for me on a daily basis to be able to function here, especially on bad flare/crash days.  He drives me where I need to go most days, comes with me to my doctor's appointments, is there when I have had surgery, takes over anything and everything when I am having a rough day and is my best friend.  I could not love him more!