4th of July 2010

This weekend, I drove home to spend time with my family. Everyone was there. My 2 sisters, my 5 brothers, my sister-in-law, my dad and my brother's "unofficial-officially-together" girlfriend (ie, "Its Complicated!"). It was great fun. Dad cooked, my sister baked, we shared laughs, we shared stories. It was the perfect family get together.

Except for one thing. Ben wasn't there. It was the first weekend, since we've been married, that we shared apart. On one hand (the family-is-all-together-side), it was a blast! On the other hand (Ben's-not-here-side), it was weird.

This may seem silly, but I think I've taken for granted how much our lives involve, depend and thrive with one another there. When you are married, you live with that person. Day in and day out. Routines merge together and its easy to overlook how much influence your spouse has in your life. All weekend long, I felt weird. Out of place. Like, something was missing. Don't misunderstand - I LOVED being with my family. It was refreshing. But I didn't like spending time with my family without Ben. He completes me. He gets my corny jokes. He laughs at my corny jokes. I love that we work as a dyad (thank you, Dr. Fliger, for that word). A unit. A partnership. I love that Ben is my family.

When it was time to go home, I was beyond thrilled. I had missed Ben SOOOOO MUCH. It was nice to round out the weekend sitting in a random parking lot in Atlanta watching fireworks with my love.

Hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend.