It occurred to me as I sat down to post this:
I am 48.
Monday was our 24th wedding anniversary.
That means I’ve been married for half of my life?
That’s wild.
Back in 2019, I searched for a photo of us from every year we were married (which was actually kinda hard!) and put them all in a Facebook album. Since then, I’ve updated that album every year with one new photo. It’s crazy to watch how we—and our family—have grown and changed.
I’m going to move the photos here because I don’t love the idea of them living only on Facebook.
2001 – Honeymoon! 
2002 – New House 
2003 – My Uncle’s wedding 
2003 – Vegas 
2005 – Ryan’s first beach trip! 
2006 – Party at our house. I think that’s Carolyn in the back. 
2007 – Thanksgiving 
2008 – Thanksgiving (our first year hosting) 
2009 – Beach 
2010 – Rally for Sanity in DC 
2011 – Easter (Welcome Evan!) 
2012 – Christmas 
2013 – Vermont Trip 
2014 – Bermuda 
2015 – New Orleans 
2016 – Beerfest 
2017 – Color Run 
2018 – Random selfie on a date night 
2019 – Office Holiday Party 
2020 – Bloomsburg (In front of the house where we met 25 years earlier) 
2021 – Rock Hall, MD celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary. 
2022 – CCBC Gala 
2023 – At a Wedding 
2024 – Murder Mystery night 
2025 – Rehoboth, DE
Bill and I have literally grown up together. It’s kind of insane.
I suppose we’re doing something right, because I can’t imagine my life without him—and I’m betting he’d say the same.
We just work.
Our marriage is far from perfect—but honestly, I don’t believe the perfect marriage exists. It takes effort. Compromise. Acceptance.
Both people have to do the work.
I’ve known some truly great people whose seemingly perfect marriages ended, and from what I could see, it was always because one of them stopped trying to make it work. I’m sure they had their reasons, but really, who knows? No one can ever fully understand someone else’s relationship.
Anyway, we celebrated this past weekend by going to Rehoboth and had an absolute blast. We even met Daddy Pig! lol
Since we went away, I’ve been in catch-up mode. Work’s been crazy, the house is a mess, and I haven’t posted anything on Substack. I haven’t even baked any sourdough! (Which I plan to remedy right after I post this—I’ve got a loaf in the fridge.)
Tonight’s a mess too: the whole family’s going to play Pickleball and it’s Survivor night. So I’ve got to go—dinner needs cooking.
But first…
2025 Goal Check In
(Didn’t quite meet all my goals this month, but I’m still chugging away!)
- Blog Weekly.
- so far… ✔️
- Paint More. Don’t overthink it.
- so far…✔️ (REALLY Slacking!)
- Make a new handmade pasta monthly.
- Jan ✔️ ✔️
- Feb ✔️ ✔️
- March ❌
- April ✔️✔️
- Hike at least twice a month.
- Jan ✔️✔️
- Feb ✔️✔️
- March ✔️ ✔️
- April ✔️✔️ (Snuck one in after work yesterday just to reach my goal!)
- Perform one unassisted dip.
- Training!
- Perform five strict pull-ups.
- Training! (As of 4/1 up to three!!)
- Handstand walk.
- Training! (See above)
- Take at least three yoga classes a month.
- Jan ✔️✔️✔️
- Feb ✔️✔️✔️
- March ✔️✔️✔️
- April ✔️✔️ ❌ (short this month)
- Make homemade sourdough bread.
- ✔️✔️✔️OMG I did it!✔️✔️✔️
- Take the kids to Iceland.
- Training underway
- Fix the holes in my house (long story, lots of plumbing issues this year).
- Two holes down, two to go!
- Continue my Spanish Streak on Duolingo (I’m on day 1,231!!).
- so far…✔️ day 1349
- Take a Spanish class in person.
- No update. 🙁
- Plan something special for The Husband’s 50th birthday!
- Research is underway.
- Snatch 125lbs.
- Training! .
- Compete in at least one weightlifting meet.
- Walk a minimum of half a mile daily with Marsh and, preferably, with the Husband, but I can’t base my goal on him.
- 105/113 days so far this year.
- Track my movie-watching on Letterboxd.
- so far…✔️ Click here to see! (Been slacking!)
- Keep my citrus trees alive! (I have a lemon and a lime tree I named Laverne and Shirley. Laverne is not doing too well after a disastrous root rot issue this fall, but we are doing our best.)
- so far…✔️ They are outside!
- Host an extended family dinner monthly.
- Jan ✔️
- Feb ✔️
- March ✔️
- April ✔️
- Clean out and organize my closet and drawers.
- Thrift more and purchase no brand-new clothes.
- so far…✔️
- Take daily supplements more consistently.
- so far…✔️ (I am back on schedule!)
- Reduce alcohol consumption to once or twice a month.
- Jan ❌ 1/18, 1/23, 1/31 (close!)
- Feb 2/1, 2/15 ✔️
- March 3/22 ✔️
- April 4/25, 4/26 ✔️ (weekend away)
- Cook one new recipe/dish a month.
3 replies on “Married Half My Life? What?? (w17)”
I love this post! So fun seeing these pictures as you grew together and as a couple and a family of four! I realized I’ve followed you since Ryan was just a baby. I have always looked forward to your writings and admired your drive to set goals and reach them. I see such love between you and Bill and agree both people have to work at marriage.. give, take, compromise. When it’s all said and done what a blessing to have a husband who is a friend, probably a best friend. Your great role models for your two boys. Happy 24th Anniversary Roni and Bill. Suzan
Thank you SO much! And yes! He’s my best friend and I feel blessed. We talk about it all the time. Like… life is shitty and hard and overwhelming, but at least we have each other. That’s how we both feel and I know not everyone is that lucky. It brings a tear to my eye when I think about it too long.
❤️❤️❤️”We just work”