Wuv, twue wuv.....

I came across a notebook of wedding plans the other day. It was funny, reading my lists of "STUFF TO DO FOR WEDDING." I was so naive that I thought the wedding would be the hard part, not the marriage! Wow. It's like those Bridezilla shows, or the "You get a free wedding if I change everything about it to what I like" scenario.

I didn't get to be on the TV show, but I did get my wedding taken over by Momzilla. But that's a story for Shirley Sunday. Anyway, Mr. Kat Lady and I made it through the wedding and honeymoon, and several crazy incidents (the oil) in our first year or so. What I am going to talk about is "the seven year itch."

We are going on our 8th year of marriage. (I know, wow, who woulda thought?) Right about year seven (us being 28) is when the ball dropped. We suddenly looked at each other and said "Who ARE you, and what are we doing?" I've heard it's common to suddenly question everything about every 7 years you are married. We sat down and discussed how we'd changed in seven years. Turns out we have been married to strangers for nigh on 8 years!

1. We no longer live on Ramen and pocket change. (The pocket change goes to bills.) We've figured out how to eat real meals together, and how to budget for gas money. (that took a while.)
In fact, we got so sick of eating ramen that we can't bear to eat it more than once or twice a month. And I'm Asian!

2. We now know the difference between a job and a career. Dillons deli is a job, writing is a career. We also know jobs make money, careers make you nuts. Mr. Kat Lady busts his butt at his hotel job so we can pay the bills. (and buy cat food) Currently we are wondering exactly how much customer abuse it's going to take before he ends up snapping a pen off in someone's left eye.

3. We have to plan when we want to treat ourselves. Jobs pay bi-weekly and bills come monthly, so 1 or 2 drive thru visits are kosher usually. We pick one or two times a year to go balls to the wall. This year for our anniversary we are going to *censored* at a hotel for 2 days. :) I know, I can say the word, but I have family that read my blog, and well they REALLY don't want to think about me doing THAT. I don't even want to think about me doing that.

4. A full time job is not a curse. For the longest time we thought we could live on a part time job salary. Electric, gas, water, and phone companies tended to disagree. Sometimes I play bill roulette, and hope to make it two weeks without losing any service. Sometimes I lose. Usually I can manipulate my way into a pay agreement. Sprint is awesome about this. City Water, not so much. You never love your toilet so much until you've had to go without it for a week.

5. Love is learning to accept and acknowledge each other's faults. Repeatedly. Loudly. Yelling fights are good once in a while. Plus, the more you yell, the better the make up sex.

So yeah, those are just a few of the things we've learned. That and how to wrestle with each other and not look like we've both committed a felony. Yes, we (28 year old grownups) wrestle with each other like 7 year old boys. Deal with it. And for God's sake don't try to imagine what it looks like. You don't have the gag reflex necessary.

Love and Laughter,
-Kat Lady