Today I have been married 24 years.

Just wanted to share that 24 years ago today, I married the love of my life, my best friend, my soulmate, the one who completes me and makes me whole. My love for my husband has grown and grown over the years and the distance from deployments has made it even stronger. I would have to say that honesty, trust, respect and each of us putting the other first in our relationship is what has made our marriage last. We keep no secrets, except my husbands job counseling and other areas he is not allowed to discuss, and I do not share with him any confident advocating or confidential support that I give to other wives. We have always shared in the responsibility of parenting and support each other in decisions that are made. We consult each other before making huge decisions, financial or otherwise. My husband is behind me 100% when I went back to school to complete my degree. We sit together for evening meals as a family when jobs or classes do not take us away from the table. My husband and I share in the responsibility of duties to help our youngest special needs child, for instance... bed time... and we split up the nighttime duties and both of us tuck him in bed. I pray with my youngest child and my husband still prays with our 14 year old daughter, as she still wants her dad too. We do have our disagreements, but we never go to bed angry with each other and we try to never raise our voices in front of our children. This is what has helped our marriage last for 24 years.