Twelve Short Years

Tomorrow is Tony and my 12th anniversary! Since we knew he wouldn't be around right now, we pretended the big day was when we were in Hawaii. That was more fun than going to Costco and an end-of-season soccer party will be anyhow.
Looking back, I consider it a minor miracle (for me a major one!) that we found each other and fell in love. Tony had checks in all of the boxes: mission, college (with the prospect of someday graduating and being gainfully employed), intelligent, supportive and kind - but who couldn't fake that for the 3 weeks that we dated!
Well, in honor of the occasion, here are the top ten reasons that I love Tony. Don't worry, it's all rated G, but I will totally understand if no one but me wants to read it!

1. Whenever I anticipate something that he's going to say, what he actually does say is always more intelligent and well thought out than what my mind came up with.
2. He likes my body through all of the many changes that occur and reoccur when you have 5 and 1/2 children. (Probably on my mind right now because the baby bump is starting to get more obvious.)
3. Tony likes all kinds of movies. He had a much broader range that I do. The only movie choice he's ever hassled me about was a middle eastern movie about a rug. So, I get to drag him to all of my foreign and girl movies with no complaints, and I don't have to go see Rocky (although, I have to admit that the last one wasn't half bad).
4. He's always been happy and willing to add to our sometimes wild family.
5. In spite of having a kind of intense and yucky job right now, he still acts like the work I do at home is valuable (even when, if I were the maid, I would fire myself).
6. He knows that I zone out after about 2 minutes of any engineering explanation, but I swear he listens when I talk about my sisters and sewing and plants that he's never heard of. (Maybe he just has a better game face?)
7. Tony likes that Northwest! That may sound dumb, but I love it here and what if I had married some crazy person who wanted to live where it was hot and buggy and snake-infested?
8. He's much bigger than me, but isn't a giant, so I get to feel girly and feminine (I've never outweighed him - even at full term!) without feeling like I'm the size of a child. It's nice to kiss your honey without a step-ladder, and we short people don't always have that option!
9. He likes my family! We Tunnells are probably not for everyone (nice, but a bit idiosyncratic), so that's a huge plus. (Pretty lucky, considering that he met them the day before our wedding.)
10. He has awesome legs and nice, broad shoulders.

I could go on, but I'm sure that anyone who has gotten this far may already be feeling a little nausea. Have a wonderful my anniversary! Give your loved one a hug and tell them why you love them even more after __ years.