Half of my life

Posted on June 9, 2016 by Heather Laura Clarke

I was 16 when we officially became a couple on June 9, 2000 and 24 when we got married on June 9, 2008.

Even I can do that math — eight years together before our wedding day, eight years since our wedding day, 16 years together in total.

Today I’m 32 and it’s June 9, 2016. We’ve been together 16 years. Half my LIFE, people!

And so, as I always do on our anniversary, I must trot out the wedding video I edited together on the free Windows Movie Maker software that came with my computer a zillion years ago …

Eight years. Sixteen years. However you count, it’s a lot.

Marriage is not easy, even for people like us who have been together since we were teenagers. We have to work at it, too.

We test our marriage with countless DIY projects — this being one of the worst — and we struggle to put each other first when the world tells us it should be all about the kids.

There are financial struggles and professional struggles where we try to balance two unpredictable careers. We also try to balance each other’s parenting, since I’m a cranky b. at night and he has absolutely no patience after working a night shift.

There is sickness (so much sickness) and there is tears. There are big decisions and silly decisions and everything in between.

Last year, I wrote about the day we were married and I don’t think I can say it better than that …

We were married alone, under the early-afternoon sun in a city that was clear across the continent from our families.

Only a handful of people knew what we were doing, and we were giddy with secrecy and independence. We met the pastor right before the ceremony and our witness was a stranger named Missy who worked the drive-thru window at the chapel.

I was 24 years old, with shiny rings on my fingers and an even shinier future ahead of me.

We developed our wedding film at a nearby Walgreens. We ate cheeseburgers and fries at In-N-Out Burger for our reception. I traded my poufy gown for a white sundress and we rode the roller coaster at the New York New York Hotel & Casino.