The Seven Year Wish

Today is my 7th wedding anniversary. I really can't believe it has been that long but I also can't remember what my life was like before Ryan was a part of it. In our seven years as husband and wife, we have been through a lot but in the past year we have been through more storms than usual. In the last 12 months we've been through a job loss, two job changes, Aidan's terrible twos, unimaginable money woes, health problems and frequent changes to our schedules and routines. Thankfully, things are finally starting to slow down (fingers crossed). Although we have had some of the worst fights we have EVER had in the last year I really think we've come out much stronger as a unit. Before our epic disaster year began, we were not in a happy place as a couple. We were both working jobs we hated and we took a lot of our bitterness and frustration out on each other. Ryan wrapped himself up in Aidan 100% to a point where I didn't exist so I withdrew from both of them.

Ryan lost his job just three weeks before our anniversary last year so we weren't able to celebrate and frankly there really wasn't a marriage to celebrate. But, as we have learned first hand, crisis brings out the best and worst in people. Going through Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas last year was so hard. I am a holiday person so it was extremely hard to be miserable last season when I would find myself wishing the holidays away. He pushed me through December and helped me make the best out of a hopeless situation. For most of the year, Ryan worked a job where we didn't have a single weekly day off together. For a couple like us that has one car and is pretty much joined at the hip, this was tough. I was angry and lonely a lot of the time even though I couldn't express how I felt. Yes, it was nice to spend weekends alone with my son and it helped us bond tighter but I missed having my husband around and being able to do things as a family.

So here we are on the other side of twelve months and in a much better place. Aidan has a routine and is back in daycare with his friends. Ryan has a better paying job and he doesn't have to work weekends. I love my job and because I'm not tied to the house on weekends I have been able to pick things back up with my cupcake business, which for the most part had been on hiatus since last August. We have family time again and are even getting a cheap second car. We have come a long way but we still have a long way to go to get back to our happy place as a couple. My wish for going in to our eighth year of marriage is that things continue to improve and that we can be content as individuals, as a couple, as parents and as a family.