6th

That’s right, we scarred a tree with our initials six years ago, a couple days before we got married.  Too bad it’s barely legible now–if this is some sort of omen (or “oh man,” as the case may be), let us hope it’s about the impermanence of adversity in the great circle of life, or something similarly uplifting.

In honor of our anniversary, I was going to say something that would’ve come off a bit on the trite side, about how I’m pretty sure I laugh harder and more often than I ever have, and how that’s all because Spouse is funnier than anyone I’ve ever known, and I got to thinking.  Way back in the day, I went through a rough patch that was really less a “patch” than a “couple years.”  Unfortunately for Spouse (bless his heart), but fortunately for me, it coincided with the beginning of our relationship.  It’s a strange thing to be utterly miserable and incredibly happy at alternating intervals, I tell you.

Anyway, I started seeing a therapist to whom I couldn’t properly explain that dynamic, and who was too eager to see this awesome new relationship as the cause of my malaise.  She asked me what it was about Spouse that attracted me so; why did I love him?  I said, “He’s the funniest person I’ve ever met,” thinking that her face would light up in recognition and she’d say, “Oh, of course!  Hang on to that one there!”  But instead she was like, “Funny?  That’s nice.  But is it enough?”  It’s hard to explain things that you instinctively know are true and meaningful to someone who doesn’t share that instinct.  Now that I’ve had my head on straight for several consecutive years, I know what I meant.

The things people find funny, and the way people make jokes tells you everything you need to know about them: whether they’re fundamentally kind or cruel, confident or defensive, hopeful or cynical; how perceptive or well-read they are; how they face good times and bad; but most importantly, how they go about the business of loving other human beings.  So when I say Spouse is the funniest person I’ve ever known, I mean he’s the funniest person I’ve ever known (bar none), but also that every time he makes me laugh, he shows me every single one of those qualities I adore in him.  I get to fall in love all over again, all the time.

So yeah, merely “funny” is enough.  And then some.