What I Am Most Thankful for in 2010: My Soldier, My Sweetheart

"They'll never make it". "They're too young to get married" "It won't last five years" Those were all phrases my husband and I heard when on April 3rd 2000 we got married. I was 17 and he was 19 and yes, we were too young to get married. I can say that now and smile about it. Finally, 11 years later.

My husband and I have had lots of ups and downs. He's not perfect and luckily he doesn't put that burden on me either. He talks in his sleep and won't wake up on his own. He likes to spend money and I don't. He's like a kid a lot and I'm an old soul. He likes to spoil our kids and I am the disciplinarian. He's in the army and deployed and sometimes that bothers me. A lot.

I could go on and on about our differences and the things we have fought about, the things we do not agree on but somehow as time goes on, those things aren't as big a deal as they once seemed. Instead these days days I see my husband for what he really is and what he has become.

He's the one person who knows me best. Even better than I thought. He pays attention when I don't think he is. He knows ALL my faults, my nasty habits and he's still my biggest fan. He tells me I'm beautiful every day. He encourages me to do what makes ME happy even if the rest of the world were to disagree. He's the man who originally started out only wanting two kids and yet after our fourth and fifth were born he cried and said "You know I could see us having another". He's the one single thing in the world that grounds me. I can honestly say I like hanging out with my husband and he's my bestest buddy.

As he's thousands of miles away from me, in a foreign country, doing his duty honorably, I can say this year I have come to appreciate him even more, especially this Thanksgiving. I am thankful for him. Not only for what he does at home, but what he does over there. It has taken me 11 years to be able to say that. Those 11 years have been filled with sad times, hard times, good times but through it all, his heart has been mine and my heart has been his, and that will remain the same no matter how much he talks in his sleep or how many times he has to go away. He's my soldier, my sweetheart and my best friend.