Both of our birthdays land on the 13th. So after dating for 5 months when we were looking at October wedding dates and there was a Saturday the 13th, it seemed like no other date could possibly be better.
13 is our jam. We do Valentines on the 13th, celebrate our 13 birthdays and don’t mind one tiny bit when our anniversary lands on Friday the 13th. Four months out of the year, I circle star and heart 13’s on the calendar. Our kids, couldn’t get with the program and were NOT born on 13’s but we have overlooked this disobedience.
This brings us to our 13th wedding anniversary. The one we decided a few years ago we would celebrate big instead of 10 or 15. Our destination: Austin, TX. We love food. We love music. We love over-the-top. (read: Heather loves over the top). So a kid-less week of eating our way through Austin with live music every night felt perfect for 13.
Welp.
13 years looks like this:
- It looks like the HEAPING stack of dishes tonight that Darrin will do-not because it’s his turn or because it’s our anniversary. It’s just that the sink needs emptying and I’m making dinner tonight.
- It looks like color coded schedules because we’ve been in a damn pandemic for 73 months and we have conference calls and school and a free range toddler.
- It looks like the two of us tag teaming Tucker’s remote assignments today because we’re partners and we share the responsibility and privilege of being his parents.
- It looks like the shared grief and scars of miscarriages and failed adoptions.
- It looks like sitting next to a NICU isolette for 5 months-there is one other human on this Earth that shares with me the exact experience of that trauma-and it is him.
- It looks like commitment and respect and friendship.
- It looks like giving and taking and dirty diapers.
And tonight. It will look like two 40 somethings, eating grilled chicken, putting the kids to bed and flipping a coin to see whether it’s Cobra Kai or Schitt’s Creek.
It ain’t Austin City Limits, but it’s something. And I’ll take it with Darrin Hucks every single time. Happy 13, love.
The day we were engaged 
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