Marathon Girl's contractions seem to have stopped – ironically at the same time that the doctor would have let her deliver the baby had the contractions continued. As of now we have no idea when the bundle of joy will arrive. Tomorrow. Thanksgiving Day. Two weeks from now. Who knows! The good news is that when the baby decides to arrive, she's been in the oven long enough that she should come out healthy and well.
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I've spent the weekend making edits on the last few chapters of my book. (I can't wait until it's published!) I love reading those chapters because it reminds me how fortunate I am to have Marathon Girl as my wife. There were so many things that could have derailed our relationship if we had let them. Yet despite the hardships we endured there was a determination from both of us to make our relationship successful. After one particularly difficult incident I held Marathon Girl in my arms and asked her if she wanted to continue being with me. I told there would probably be more trying days in our future. Marathon Girl looked up at me and said that she was wanted things to work out between us and wasn't willing to give up just because we had a difficult day and some rather unique issues to deal with. It was that moment that I realized we were the only ones that could determine if things were going to work out between us. It didn't matter the issues either of us brought to the relationship, so long as we were willing to work together on them.
Thanks to that attitude, we have a wonderful marriage. Different problems have come up over the four years we've been together but we've worked through each one successfully because we want to be together and want our marriage to endure. The difficulties we've encountered have made our union stronger and brought us closer together as a couple.
So, thank you, Marathon Girl, for letting me know you weren't about to give up when we hit a speed bump all those years ago. I owe all my happiness to your patience and love. I can't imagine my life without you.