Nine years 12 hours ago....

I married the guy who has become my best friend, my rock, mia amour....

In the time since then, he has been with me though everything. (Oftentimes with home-made Chocolate Chip Cookies a la Michael....)

Applying to medical school, the MCAT, six interviews, two acceptances & four rejections, graduations from college x two, nearly 15,000 test questions in four years, all three parts of the state board exam, “The Match” twice, three tries at landing an internship, five pediatric residency interviews, three extraordinary grueling years of residency, applying for a medical license & the jurisprudence exam, the pediatric boards x three (It’s a really, really hard test!), a lost fellowship slot and finally gainful employment 2 ½ years ago.

That’s a list that might have scared off the faint of heart, isn’t it?

But wait, there’s more.

We’ve moved a total of seven times, lived in two apartments, been caretakers of a house, rented two houses, and finally bought our first home nearly a year ago.

This dedicated man has followed me to the far south of Texas and back because of my training, without a complaint, and even turned a less than stellar job market in Corpus Christi into an opportunity to direct his career in a different direction and switch companies.

We’ve shared our lives with a total of ten cats; eight of them from kitten-hood. We’ve lost four of them in the past 2 ½ years; three of them tragically too young and the fourth, tragically too old.

Between the two of us we’ve had eight different cars:

1. Spectrum – “Berry”


2. Old Toyota MR2 – “Beastie”


3. Mazda 626 – “Baby”


4. Toyota Echo – “Bubble car”


5. Jeep Grand Cherokee #1 – “Jeepie”


6. Toyota Celica – “Beastie #2”


7. Jeep Grand Cherokee #2 – “Jeepie #2”


8. New Toyota MR2 Spider – “Beepie”

We’ve lost two of my grandparents and two of his, and this year the mother of one of his longstanding friends.

He’s been with me though two surgeries for endometriosis, and in all honesty, I’m not the best of patients. (Surprise!) I’ve seen him through the flu, at least a few times since he doesn’t believe in the flu shot. (I still think that’s crazy!) And there have been other speed bumps along the way.

We’ve traveled all over: Las Vegas x three, Hoover Dam, Monterey California, Hearst Castle, Hawaii & the Volcano National Park, Western Massachusetts, Colorado, New York City, Puerto Rico, the Western Caribbean and of course most recently to RUSSIA. And best of all, there’s still plenty of places we want to go see together.

He brought with him a group of guys who’ve all known one another for 30 years called affectionately “Da’ Boys” and I have made a few close friends that have been pretty tight for the past 10 years. (You know who you are: Matt, Jeff, Billy, Tony, Tiff, MJ & Tarl!)

I’ve encouraged him on the purchase of far too many computer components to count, and he hasn’t ever tried to tally up my enormous stock of scrapbooking “stuff”. And we’ve egged each other on in the pursuit of better & better cameras and photographs.

I’d say this qualifies as having established a history together.

So all day long, I’ve thought about how to say “Thank you” & “I love you” to this guy, so here goes....

I know I don’t say “Thank you” often enough and probably don’t tell you that I love you enough either. So I hope you know that you are the rock in my life that keeps me grounded, centered and supported now and especially at those times that I have crumbled.

You constantly amaze me with your dedication & devotion. No one else has, at the drop of a hat, brought me food to the hospital because I could not stand the thought of my fourth successive meal of hospital food while on-call for a 36-40 hour shift; even as late as 11 pm. I watched friends & colleagues lose their marriages over the long hours & time away from home that this life & career I’ve chosen demands. But you’ve been steadfastly by my side. We decided early on we were a team and that together we were better than apart, even if together sometimes meant not being in the same city. And while I know we’ve both been lonely, I never heard you complain about my not being home. You’ve handled my stress and anger and drama when many other people would have just walked out. And you’ve usually known that it was the fatigue & burn-out talking. And you’ve always encouraged me to take time for myself, even at the expense of “us” time.

I’m so grateful for all the “little” things that you do that I don’t always mention; programming the thermostats so that I never wake-up in a cold house, feeding the cats breakfast so that I can sleep, holding my pager so I can take a shower without obsessing that I’m missing a page, keeping the fridge stocked with Cokes & yogurt. And so many, many more ways that you take care of me and our family.

And then there is just you! I love to hear you laugh when we get started on a round of puns and “groaners”. I love the dimples you have when you grin, and I even think your “Kermit smile” is cute. I love watching you in an animated conversation when you’re talking about those things that you love, you coffee-geek you! I love that you can nearly read my mind, that we can finish one another’s sentences, and that we’re content to just be together. It makes my heart melt when you talk about Tabitha as “your girl” and I love(d) watching you interact with her, the cats or your family.

There’s more I could write about, but you’ve been there with me, and you know.

So know this Sweetheart, that knowing you for the past twelve years and being married to you for the past nine, has made me a better person and that I can’t imagine this time spent with anyone else. Everyday, I ask how I got so lucky to have you in my life....

Cheers! And hopefully many many more years together!

All my love,
T.