I started dating my husband at fourteen. He took me to my freshman homecoming.

At fourteen, I felt all grown up. I was pretty sure I would marry this boy. And I couldn’t wait for LIFE to catch up so we could get on with our happily ever after.

I envisioned our perfect careers and our perfect fancy house on a sprawling lawn with four perfect children who I would perfectly parent, of course. We’d drive fancy cars and take extravagant vacations and spend our Saturday mornings together golfing or taking day trips to exotic locations. It was going to be SO ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!

We married at 21 and 23…still just kids, really. And I was so excited for our perfect happily ever after to begin.

Isn’t it just like God to throw all that superficial stuff out the window and show us what He really has planned???

It turns out our happily ever after looks a bit different from the one I envisioned…

Our happily ever after is loud chaotic family dinners and loud chaotic holiday celebrations and loud chaotic weekend nights just trying to get everyone fed after practice and off to bed on time.

Our happily ever after is basketball practice on Mondays and Wednesdays and soccer practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays and every Saturday spent running back and forth to games and tournaments.

It’s an ordinary house on an ordinary street in an ordinary neighborhood with dirty socks littering the floor and empty cups on every flat surface and laundry spilling from the laundry room down the hall.

Our happily ever after is sassy remarks and eye rolls and “Why can’t we just be a normal family?” when we enforce rules and set screen time limits.

Our happily ever after is his bald head and my, um, fluffy tummy.

It’s a LONG week at work or a LONG week at home taking care of kids so that by Friday night all we ever want to do is flop on the couch and eat ice cream.

Our happily ever after is my understanding he loves to sleep in on Saturday morning and his realizing that when I’m about to lose my mind I probably just need to eat.

Our happily ever after is years together raising a family with all these little people who look a lot like us and behave a little like us too so that some of our best and worst qualities mix together to make five whole new absolutely incredible humans.

It’s far from fancy and not even close to glamorous…

But our happily ever after is LOVE.

And a lifetime of living and growing up and growing old together with my best friend and it’s the happily ever after I would choose again and again and again. A million times over.

Because this is the story of us…

And our (mostly) happily ever after.

I’d love to share my new book with you! Everything I Wish I Could Tell You: A Woman’s Guide to Health in the Body You Actually Have