Adding It All Up

Somehow, in the chaos of a Monday morning, I found myself doing a bit of math.  In the middle of the 5 o'clock hour, I added it all up and determined that I have now officially spent half of my life - one whole half of it - as one part of the AR-BR duo. 

That fact got me thinking, really thinking, about what partnership means.  When we were first dating, and even when we were newly married, I know I didn't fully know.  Life is funny like that.  You think you've got it all squared away, all figured out, and then life actually happens, and you realize you are utterly oblivious.  

You get your first jobs.  Your car is obliterated on a Kentucky highway. You walk into work one day and are told you won't have a job at the end of the school year - oh, and you just bought your first home. You love the mountains, but you can't find a job in what would be your new hometown. Your tiny human will only sleep while you hold her - thus, you don't sleep for days...or weeks? The surveyor stakes out your home amidst the lovely tree line that was the selling feature of your newly purchased lot.  One of your favorite gigs is taken away with barely a 'thanks for the many years of hard work.'  You struggle to regulate all the business that lives inside your head and the responsibilities that fill your days. 

We spend a lot of time hoping an answer to the question, "What do we do?" will magically appear.  Spoiler alert: It doesn't! Life is tough, and it is messy.  But I am lucky; I have never had to face that alone. 

I found someone who wants to fumble his way through life along side me, someone who lifts me up when I am down, and someone who leans on me when he needs support.  The majority of my adult life has been spent cultivating this dynamic, and I know I am the better for it.  

So, here's to a bit of math and half of my life.  Thanks, BR!