Make it or break it

This morning, as I wandered over to our spot on the beach, I found my husband helping our son put on his swim trunks . . . with a net over his head and grin on his face.  We celebrated his thirty-seventh year around the sun this past weekend with homemade cheesecake and a date at the movies.  I think about the summer we started dating and he turned twenty-six.  It was 2002 and I left a voice message on his cell phone with a Lauren Hill song that he couldn't understand.  We planned to reunite at this beach town to start a cross-country trip that would drive us into our future together.  At the start of that trip, I taught him how to drive my Jeep Cherokee manual stick shift in a parking lot.  He was a quick learner and soon we were off again, cruising along on the highway until it got too dark and late.  We were headed to Seattle.  We called it the make it or break it trip.

 

 

He just walked into the room carrying our toddler son.  They both look like they are ready for a nap.  "The kids and I just finished blowing bubbles for over an hour," he says.  When he's not blowing bubbles on vacation, Papa is often working at the fish market.   If our son sees Papa at work, all he wants to do is catch a fish, just like him.  Taho, he wants to be just like you.  And I hope he will be. 

It's been years since our make it or break it trip.  However, it still feels like we're on it: without the risk of the unknown.  Now, it's the make it or break it EVERYDAY.  Instead of being two twenty-something-youngins in search of an adventure, we have two adorable kids, a dog, a career, a house, a few more years of getting to know one another and the feeling that we can do anything . . . because we have.  I know through it all, you will make me laugh, cook amazing meals, carry all the heavy stuff, take my crazy suggestions seriously, and play with our children and I with great fervor and affection.  Thank you for being in my life my love.  Happy Birthday Taho.