::seven is heaven::

josh first asked me to "go steady" on this day in 1997. and, here we are, that many years later, married, and approaching our three year wedding anniversary. i'm trying to come up with the words to completely encapsulate the accomplishment i see in that. and i'm stumbling because i've worked hard all day and words so often fail me--at the level of excellence i seek in my writing, anything short of perfect is frustrating.

there's a story behind the "go steady" phrase, but amazingly i'm going to condense it more than a can of evaporated milk with this explanation: i was in school and had to take a big test the following day. josh asked me, after a lovely dinner and intimate conversation in his car, if i wanted to "go steady". i thought "how sweet! how old-fashioned!" three months later, he admitted that the actual words were "go study". you know. for the test. ah! it's terribly cute, isn't it? i knew you would think so.

josh is constantly teaching me new things. much of what i know about music and who i know in music is because of him. over the years, my catalogue of bands/musicians has expanded exponentially: aimee mann, jonatha brooke, lyle lovett, elbow, jamiroquai, beck, jon brion, michael penn and harry connick jr, to name just a handful. i used to listen to a lot of more mainstream artists, but josh has me on a diet of rather eclectic music these days. and, i am so enjoying it! well, at any rate, it feels eclectic for me because most of it isn't on the radio. as musicians alike, we both have different reason for liking a particular style, and i still lean toward the mainstream a bit more than he does (i enjoy the maroon 5, the occasional beyonce, or whatever is playing on star 98.7...i'm not so down with stained and those kids, and kroq 106.7's top 5 @ 9 last night was all foreign to me & completely unappealing....). *sigh* my point here is that this is one of the many wonderful things about him and, well, i don't have the energy to share them all with you right now. just, trust me. he's wonderful.

so, happy 7 year anniversary, bebe! you know this almost means more to me than our wedding anniversary and i am so grateful to be going through this life with you at my side. thank you for all you do to make our life the very best. i love you forever.