Nine Years Today....

Today marks mine and John's 9th Anniversary.  The years keep ticking by, as they do for everyone.  We had planned on going out to dinner Saturday night to celebrate.  I had a sitter lined up and ready to go, a gift card to use that we had been given at Christmas time, nothing could stand in out way.

Except a stomach virus.

I came down with it Monday night around 8 pm.  Just all of a sudden didn't feel good and it kept getting worse.  John checked on me before calling it a night on the couch downstairs, and I couldn't think of anything I needed.  I'll spare you the details, but I will say that I didn't get any sleep that night and was getting sick in the bathroom every 10-15 minutes like clockwork.  About 5 hours into it, I was losing my grip.  I was a whiny mess!  I just didn't want to be alone anymore - let alone be sick anymore, so I went downstairs and woke up John.  He asked what was wrong and I think I just muttered something about being sick.

And you know what he did?  He didn't complain about being awoken in the middle of the night, or tell me to stop crying.  He just rubbed my back.

And at that moment it was just what I needed.  Then he went to go get me water, and came back and sat with me for over half an hour.  Not once did he suggest I go back to bed, not once did he mention how tired he was himself.  I think if I hadn't left to go back upstairs, he'd have sat there with me til the sun came up. 

And THAT was the most meaningful gift I could have ever gotten for our anniversary. 

By the way - I was on the 10-15 minute schedule for about 9 hours.  It wiped me out.  Then, 2 days later, Katie got the same thing.  She was sick for 9 hours - every 10-15 minutes.  And you know what?  She never cried, she never complained (except about wanting to drink more water), and she even kept apologizing to me because I stayed up with her, and she felt bad because I didn't get to sleep.  What a trooper.  I tell you - she's tougher than me by a landslide.