Well, I certainly didn't intend to not write anything for the past week. I have some thoughts swirling around in my head, but nothing quite "stuck." So, I was faced with a conundrum. Do I abandon my "Monday lists" idea after just one week? Or do I stick with it and try to "do better" this week?
I decided I didn't want to give up on the lists after-all, so here we go! This will be a little "deeper" one than most weeks will likely be :)
Weeks after Mike and I began dating, I knew I would marry him. I knew that we needed to lay a strong foundation, but I felt a connection with him, an easiness, that made me believe I would thrive as his wife.
Over and over this past year, there have been so many little moments when I have looked at Mike and literally laughed at these bizarre ways we are connected in random, beautiful ways. Here are the top 10!
10. He likes dry erase boards. This is actually the incident that inspired this list. Mike and I have been talking about going on a road trip for weeks. We mapped it out a few weeks ago, but needed to actually sit down, draw it all out, decide where we're staying, etc. Last night, we decided to buckle down and do the planning. I was finishing cleaning up the dinner dishes, when I saw Mike walk into our room with a dry erase board. You guys. Dry erase boards are one of my love languages. I mapped out my entire thesis on one in grad school. I feel incredibly accomplished after plotting out something difficult, erasing and moving and erasing again, my fingers stained with marker (I rarely use an eraser). He speaks my language, people.
9. We watch CBS Sunday Morning together. Before I met Mike, I literally knew of one other person under 50 who watched CBS Sunday Morning news. I literally used to set my alarm to watch it on Sunday mornings. It's all of the human interest news without any of the politics. Every Sunday morning, we get up. make some toast and coffee and spend the morning with Jane Pauley. It's bliss.
8. He runs circles around me -- literally. The first time Mike and I ran together, we realized something quickly. I am a trotter. He is not. My short little legs churned under me at a pace that was literally painful to him. What was his solution? Not to leave me in the dust (which, honestly, I would have been okay with), but to run big looping circles around me so we could run "together." It was sweet and entertaining and I promptly made him stop after one run.
7. We were both okay with the Game of Thrones ending. I know, it's controversial. But we were both okay with the series finale of Game of Thrones. Maybe we've just both lived enough life to understand that people are defined by both strides and stumbles. So while I wouldn't say we both loved it, we were both satisfied enough.
6. HE introduced ME to Lizzo. I am an unabashed fan of Lizzo. But it's a little known fact that Mike is the person who introduced me to this gem. I don't want to out him too much, but he knows a lot of lyrics to a lot of her songs. I'm just saying.
5. He had a fully stocked spice shelf BEFORE I moved in. Ladies, find yourself a man who knows how to cook! It doesn't mean that he has to be a chef, but he needs to know how to take care of himself. And for me, that means I swooned a little when I saw some Penzey's spices in his cabinet!
4. We both hate olives. This may not seem like a big deal, but olives are the ONLY food that I literally pick out of things. I need a man in my life who could understand that kind of hatred.
3. Have you seen my porch swing though? I am an idea person. Mike is an execution person. That means when I told him I would love one of those GIANT porch swing beds, he made it happen. It's one of my favorite things about our dynamic. How well we play to each other's strengths. I think it. He builds it. And then I decorate it (yay throw pillows!)
2. He is the goofiest dancer on the planet. I can't tell you how many times I've been listening to Lizzo, getting ready for work, and seen Mike dancing across the room towards me. Our future child will be saved from Mike's and my shared awkwardness and bad dancing if he or she is adopted. And even then the nurture might kick in.
1. Two words. Mac & Cheese. When Mike and I got married, we decided the theme of our wedding would be "Mike and Brandy's Favorite Things." Which was really just permission to do whatever the heck we wanted. And that meant a build your own mac & cheese bar. I still remember sitting next to Mike, surrounded by our friends and family, eating macaroni and cheese and thinking "I have never been happier."
In short, we're not perfect, but there are so many moments each day that I think "I didn't even know life could be like this." I had a rich, full life before Mike and I were married. But now it is rich and full in so many different ways.
Mostly full of mac & cheese though.