An Open Letter to My Husband on Valentine's Day

2:15 PM

Dear Hershey,

It has been a DECADE since you walked into that bar. And this April will mark our 7th year together. So much has happened since then.

Together, we have made many decisions. I will never forget sitting on that tiny couch in that tiny bedbug-infested apartment and making the decision to move in together after just 8 months of dating. I remember thinking that this was INSANE, but I wasn’t scared. And that’s how I knew I was making the right decision.

Then was the decision to spend our lives together, after dating for only a year and a half. People thought we were crazy (my friends, especially, thought maybe YOU were crazy), but we did it anyway.

The day that I walked down that aisle in Morristown was the happiest day of my life. That sounds so cliche, but in my case, nothing is more true than that. I knew that we were embarking on a crazy special journey, and with all of our friends and family surrounding us, we promised to love and care for one another, and to hold one another’s hand until our last breaths. When I said those words, I meant them.

After a year and a half of marriage, we made the decision to start a family. We were so happy and cozy, and life was good. We had changed careers, and it felt like we were on top of the world. We had overcome what seemed to be some of the hardest years (going back to school, working full time, finding new jobs), and adding a little bundle of joy felt like the most natural next step for us. Little did we know then that the universe had more in store for us!

Today, we work together, we play together (on those rare occasions that we get to play), and we DOUBLED our family in one shot. Raising our daughters with you has been both incredibly difficult AND incredibly rewarding. You helped me through some of the scariest, saddest, most challenging moments that I have had so far as a parent (and maybe even in my life) in these last two years, and you have helped me down off of the ledge time and time again. Watching how our daughters light up when you walk into a room, watching Jane and Emma climb all over you and seeing how much they truly LOVE their Daddy — there is nothing that makes me smile bigger or harder.

At work, our students say things like “#relationshipgoals!” whenever we are in a room together, and while I’m still not 100% sure what the heck that means, I think it means that we are, together, what they want in their own relationships one day. Here’s what I have to say to that:

What we’ve done together has not come easy. Our road has been long and difficult. I was 28 when I met you, 31 when we got married, and 33 when I gave birth to our daughters. We have seen more challenges than most couples I know. We work EVERY DAY at our relationship. Every day. And while I work hard at maintaining our household and raising our daughters, I know that you work just as hard to keep our relationship together, because I am not an easy woman to handle. And for that I thank you.

Because I wouldn’t be where I am today without you.

Because I wouldn’t be able to accomplish the things that I do without you.

Because there is no one else I would rather be with.

Because I don’t know what my life would be without you in it.

And I don’t ever want to.

So on this Valentine’s Day, although we don’t celebrate it, and since I rarely get to say it, I wanted to take a moment out of our CRAZY life to celebrate our love and our tenacity, and to thank you for being such a wonderful man, husband, and father. You are still the peanut butter to my jelly, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

I love you more than all of the poopy diapers in our house (and you know that’s a LOT!).

Love always and forever,

Jessica