Celebrating 44 on 4/4

On April 4, we celebrated my parents 44th anniversary at a restaurant that had been open 4 days! That is a lot of 4's!
But seriously, FOURTY FOUR years of marriage.

Rachel and I both got sitters for our kids and we all went out to dinner to celebrate.  Ethan came into town to celebrate with us as well so our family would be complete--just adults-the 7 of us. I don't think we have done that since Eli was born.

I have always thought my parents had the most perfect marriage ever.  And I still think that they do.  But the reality of marriage changed as I got older, got engaged, and got married.  It was not until I was really upset after one of mine and Blaine's first arguments after we got married that my mom told me that just because we never saw them argue (I mean, we NEVER saw them argue) that things were not always easy, and pretty and neat.
In my naive little head, I honestly thought that was how marriage was supposed to be.  That is what I knew, or thought I knew marriage to be.  And I wanted to have a marriage just as perfect as my parents.  I know that no single marriage is always neat, pretty, easy, that there may be days where you don't like that person, are annoyed with them (sometimes for no reason, or maybe they are crunching their chips too loud), that you have disagreements and they are not always handled in the best way.  I think this just makes you human. You get angry or frustrated, and then you circle back and you are accountable. But they made sure that we never saw any of that.

I still strive to have a marriage like theirs.  They have it figured out.  They still dote on each other, my dad buys my mom flowers every week, brings her breakfast in bed sometimes, cooks for her, brings home extravagant pieces of jewelry for her-sometimes for no reason. He misses her as he drives out of the driveway for work and pines for her when she is gone.  He worries himself sick when she is hurting or sick.  My mom leaves my dad sticky notes on his mirror and puts up with his fishing clothes (it may not sound like anything but you should see his fishing clothes).  They kiss hello every time my dad gets home, and he loves on her and is affectioned at every possible moment.

I am not sure what I did right to be blessed with such amazing parents.  Seriously, I did something so right to be able to have them in my life.  I still learn so much from my parents.  I call them with problems all the time, I know they are there for me and support me in anything and everything, I can vent to them,  and I learn so much about how to be a parent and what it looks like to be amazing grandparents---If I thought I was lucky, my kids are even more lucky.

So for their anniversary Hobo picked out the restaurant for us.  We went to a new place downtown called Italic.  We all laughed, a lot, had some amazing wine and cocktails, got a tour of the wine cellar and genuinely enjoyed every single second of the night with each other.
Of course my dad gave the waiter a little bit of a hard time in true David Kruger fashion, and the little napkin bunny made a debut.

The food was amazing, but the company was better.  I left that night feeling like the luckiest girl in the world to be surrounded by such loving family--the best parents ever, the most amazing, funny, witty brother and sister, an awesome brother-in-law and the most loving and caring husband and the best father I could have dreamt up.
Cheers to my Mom and Dad! I love you more than words could ever describe.