Hey Cleatus,

Have I ever told you…

That I hate to see you go…

But I love to watch ya leave?

Because I do. Oh, yes I do.

Cleatus and I got married seven and a half years ago. I was eighteen, he was nineteen, and Eeyore was three months old. We were married at the courthouse. At the time it was all that I wanted. I didn’t want to get married while I was pregnant, so we decided to wait until after Eeyore was born. We ended up getting married so quickly after because, to be honest, our car insurance payment was more than we could afford and our insurance agent told us that it would drop by over half if we got married. (It went fr om three hundred dollars a month with Geico to one hundred a month with State Farm after we were married. Dear Jesus, Geico does NOT save you money. No matter what that little green dude says. Amen.)

Yes, we are a romantic couple. We wed so that we could afford car insurance. We married at the courthouse. I wore a blue dress from JC Penny’s.  Cleatus borrowed one of his brother’s dress shirts. I went to a cheap-y place to have my hair down and was so embarrassed about going there for MY WEDDING that I lied to the hair girl and told her that it was my parents’ anniversary and they were having a big party that night (Whuh?). My friend and I went out for lunch after my hair was done to kill time and she ate so fucking slow that I was nearly late for my own damn wedding. Outside of the courthouse was a group of kids that I had gone to high school with. They were there because one of their friends had given birth to a baby and put it in a dumpster. (Yes, I DO love having that associated with my wedding. Your court date for murder, my wedding. Feel the love in the air.) Cleatus and I walked inside and he was ahead of me. He turned around and smiled and winked at me just as I snapped his picture. He has NEVER looked more handsome than he did at that moment. And I was lucky enough to capture it on film. Its my absolute favorite picture of him. The justice of the peace dude told us what was going to happen and reminded us not to say "I do" before he was finished talking. I said I DO! before he was finished talking. After we were married we drove around in our freshly decorated car and listened to other cars honk at us. Then we went to a hotel and played Super Nintendo on the king size bed.

Tonight I was doing dishes and I broke the "groom" champagne glass from the set that my parents gave us. You can blame all this verbal wedding vomit on that.

I’ve been married to my husband for a little over 7 years. We’ve been together for 9 years. He is the only man that I have ever really loved and he is the only man that has ever loved me.

I was 18 when Eeyore was born and Cleatus was 19.  Cleatus has worked so hard ever since our child was born. He worked at a place he hated more than

anything for six years. Six years of his life were spent somewhere he hated, working with people he disliked, doing a dirty, sweaty job that would never get him anywhere. And then after six years of employment with this company, they closed down. We were both devastated. He was making decent money and we knew that he wasn’t going to find another job that paid the same anytime soon. And we were right.

Cleatus took a four dollar an hour pay cut and began working another job that he hated. He hated his boss, he hated his job, he hated everything about it.

And then he got a call about a job that he thought he might like. And he interviewed for the job, along with 600 other people. Six. Hundred. And they were only hiring 7 people. Cleatus got the job.

He started on October 9, 2006 and he has loved that job ever since he started. Yes, he works a lot of hours, but he is paid very well for it and it is something that he enjoys.

A month ago his boss approached him and told him to apply for the management position they had open. Cleatus didn’t think he would get the job because he had no management experience, but his goal is to move up in the company and so he applied and interviewed.

On Monday, October 9, 2007 Cleatus was offered the management position. One year after he started at this company and he is in management.

I could not be more proud of my husband. He works so hard and I know he will do a great job. I hope he loves this job as much as he loved the job he had been doing for the last year. I hope he is happy and I hope he does well. He deserves it.

When I’m on the computer I like to sit in the corner of the couch right against the arm and then put my feet up on the coffee table. I have my routines and I like to follow them. Cindy-Lu sees me with my most favorite thing in the world (my laptop) and immediately gets jealous. She climbs up on the couch and stands next to me. She puts one of her feet on my lap just in front of the laptop and then starts making this low growling sound until I move my arms and permit her to climb over me. She then squeezes her little butt down in between me and the seat and looks up at me and says "Hi, mommy!"

Today it was so hot and I just sat down in my favorite corner near the air conditioner when she came climbing up the couch. She put her foot on my leg and started growling and I told her no, I didn’t want her climbing on me, I was to hot. She looked me right in the eye and said "Cindy-Lu say hi mommy."

Why she can’t say hi to me from the other side of the couch without crowding my space I’ll never know. But, I do know that when she outgrows this stage where she wants to sit next to me (and sometimes on me) I’m going to wish she was growling at me again, trying to get to her spot next to me on the couch.

This picture is from August of 2006, but I couldn’t resist posting it. It just shows how sweet she can sometimes be.

Husband,

Just a quick note to you (and the rest of the internets) to let you know how much I love and appreciate you. You are a better husband, man, and father than I could have ever dreamed you would be. When we first start dating I knew that I would fall for you hard. I knew that you were a good person. My mom knew that too and hoped that we would stay together after that day she busted us being naughty and you still came out and helped her carry in the groceries. I never used to listen to my mom, but I’m glad I paid attention when she said that. Although, if she had said you were the devil himself, I probably wouldn’t have cared.

Something about you drew me to you from the moment I met you. I looked at you and thought "he’s cute, but he has a big nose." Yes, I’m a sweetheart for mentioning that, I know, but you’ve been talking about shaving your goatee and please god don’t. You are so handsome with it (and without it, but better with) and I love the way Eeyore loves to rub it and love on you by rubbing his cheeks on it.

You are so charismatic and everyone loves you the moment they meet you. You are so easy to get along with, you rarely get angry about anything, even when you have the right to. I, on the other hand, tend to bitch at you about stupid little things that I should just let go. I apologize for that. Yes, it irritates the shit out of me that you leave your wet bath towel on the dining room table. I’m sure I do hundreds of worse things to irritate you and yet you never complain or say anything about it. (Well, except for when I throw your stuff away, sorry about that.) I will try to be better about letting the little things go and letting you live in your own home without bitching about it.

I know in the weeks to come you are going to be grumpy and over tired since you will be working 72 hour weeks. I will try my best to be as understanding as I can. You can be grumpy and whiny and complain all day and I will smile and nod and get in the kitchen and bake you a pie, woman! I appreciate so much that you are willing to work so much over time so that I can stay home with our babies. I was so worried that I wouldn’t like not working, but I don’t know what I was thinking. We both know how lazy I am, and this is the life for me! (Yes, I do do a bit of house work and changing diapers and helping with home work and what-not, but we both know its not that much compared to what you do all day.) Thank you for allowing me to be lazy and stay home and watch my babies grow.

Another thing that you do so well is let me spend your money without so much as a groan or a moan. (Well, if you are moaning and groaning at least you keep it to yourself.) You rarely ever tell me that I shouldn’t have spent money on this or that, even when I’m sure you think it was a dumb purchase that we could have totally lived without. Or when you totally know its something that I won’t use (Hello, orbitrek…promise to start using that. PROMISE. Just waiting for an Mp3 player)I know that there are many things you would probably like to save our money for, but I am a notoriously bad saver and I’m sorry for that. I am trying to be better…I was doing a great job until Christmas came around. I do plan to get back on track in the new year. Promise. 

Thank you (how many times can I say that in one letter?) for being the father that you are. You tend to be so much more patient than I am. Both the kids come to me when they want drinks or food or need something boring. This isn’t because they prefer me over you. This is because I am the boring one. When they want fun, they always go to you first. They love to climb on you and hang on you and tickle you and tease you. You are so lucky that you get to be dad and friend. I tend to stay in the mom role most days and forget that I can be fun and be their friend too. I need to be more like you in that respect.

Oh, and while I’m thinking about it, if this wasn’t posted on my website, I would tell you what an amazing lover you are, but since it is…you’ll just have to know that you are without hearing it from me. =) And, another thing, that you probably have to go without hearing from me quite often, is that you are so hot. Sometimes when I look at you, you literally take my breath away. You have "grown up" into this gorgeous man. I’ve always thought you were cute, but as you get older, you get sexy. You look like a man, not a teenage boy. I love the weight you’ve put on. It makes you look more like a man. You look tough. You look like you could protect me from all the bad things in the world.

Cleatus, this is getting really wordy, so I’ll stop now. I just wanted to tell you thank you for being so great. I know you don’t have it nearly as easy as I do and yet I’m always the one that complains about things. Thank you for putting up with me. Thank you for putting up with Cindy-Lu, the little shit that she is. And, thank you for putting up with Eeyore, though he’s the easiest kid you could dream of putting up with.

I love you with all my heart, and can’t imagine life without you.
Wifey