This fall, Ryan & I will have been married for as long as we dated. Tuesday's our 2 year wedding anniversary and here in November it will have been 4 years since our first date. It's uncanny how I still remember the smallest, most insignificant details about that day. It was election day 2004. I remember going to work with an "I voted today" sticker on my visor and rushing home after work so I could shower and be ready in time for our date. I remember what I wore, and how I wore my hair, and that we couldn't finish the Jumbo sized popcorn Ryan bought us at the movie theater. We saw SAW that night, and still have the ticket stubs to prove it. This November, we'll be watching SAW V together.

I remember the day we got married, of course. I remember kissing longer than we were supposed to have during the ceremony, and that one of my adorable little cousins was running around with Ryan's beret on. I remember telling my parents ahead of time that we'd be serving ice cream cake at the reception. They thought I was joking but they should have known better.

Two years in, I wish I had some wise, profound words to offer about marriage, but I don't. We're in love. We were in love when we got married, and we're even more in love now. We're lovers. We're partners. We're each others best friends and we have a ton of fun together. Some things have come naturally to us, and others have taken effort and compromise and sacrifice and screaming matches and time, but we're committed to spending the rest of our lives together, and so far that seems to be working out pretty well for us.

Your mileage may vary.