Happiness Is…

Have I mentioned how lucky I am to be in such a loving and trusting relationship? Have I told teh intarweb lately how much I love my husband?

*sucks in a deep breath*

I LOVE THIS MAN.

Not for any reason in particular do I bring this up today. I was just thinking about us, after reading about and thinking about some of my friends’ failed and failing relationships. That, and I found a draft copy of our wedding vows (and some leftover wedding programs) as I was cleaning this evening:

I Aaron/Diana take Diana/Aaron to be my Honey Muffin (husband) / Boobie Doobie (wife) and to:

  • trust each other and be trustworthy
  • support one another in our worldly endeavors
  • continue to share our thoughts and feelings, our hopes and desires
  • and to love and cherish each other for the rest of our lives.

We have a really awesome relationship, and I count myself very, very lucky to be with Aaron.

This sounds like I’m patting myself on the back for being so cool in light of my friends’ relationship problems. That’s not how I mean it; this is more of a counting-my-blessings sort of feeling. Also, I feel genuinely sorry for my friends who don’t have this kind of relationship. One friend is coming to the end of a long, strange relationship and forging ahead in a better one. Another friend discovered that their spouse had posted a profile online at Match.com, claiming to be separated and looking for romance. Still others seem to be happy, I guess, but it’s hard to tell for sure.

We’re best friends, Aaron and I, and we like many of the same things. We do have our differences, though, and some of them are major parts of our lives. (Aaron, for instance, is not any kind of drum corps enthusiast. I, on the other hand, can’t STAND the Evil Dead movies I’ve seen.) But we’re OK with that. I go off for drum corps rehearsals and performances every other weekend, and he deals. He’s going off for a male bonding weekend up at Hemlock Lake this Saturday, and I’m perfectly OK with that (especially after all my drum corps trips). I’m happy to give him all the time he can spend with his friends, given that they hardly want to hang out anymore (due to wives, kids, and general lameness).

In conclusion, let me share some photos of where Aaron’s going this weekend. I went there with him and his friend Kris and Kris’s wife back in July 2002. It was a great time… until Kris’s wife and I got horribly sunburned and we had to leave a little early. Behold:

photo: sunshine and clouds photo: boaters fishing on a lake
photo: bare feet on a beach chair photo: kris's wife sunning photo: the pontoon boat, docked
photo: aaron with a sparkler photo: diana's amazing sunburn

Click the last photo to see myself and Kris’s wife in all our sunburnt glory.

At any rate, I leave you with this paraphrased bit of advice I recall from my old buddy Timmay: If you’re in a relationship, and it’s not making you happy, then get out. Why are you spending your life with someone, if not to be happy with them? Life is too short to stay miserable.

Life is too short. Go be happy.