Celebration

I know there's a Royal Wedding going on in fair England right now - but that's not what I'm excited about, today. I sincerely wish the Prince and his Bride well, as a stranger would wish any happy couple who ties such a life-changing knot. Heaven knows it would not be easy to begin a life together with the eyes of an entire nation (world?) watching your every move.

But today, I am not a part of that wedding party. Today, I am a part of my own party. Because, today, Bill takes his final final - or, rather, turns in his final project - for this semester. And that is reason for full-on celebration.

This semester has been brutal. Brutal. On all of us - but especially on my poor Bill. And I went and complicated things by having a baby right in the middle of things. We as a family have been in serious survival mode - just hanging on by fraying threads until we made it to the end.

Until we made it to today.

Bill hasn't slept much at all these past few weeks, and last night he didn't come to bed at all. It was strange - kissing him goodnight where he sat at his computer. Getting up twice in the night to feed Henry next to him, still sitting at his computer. Bidding him good-morning - where he sat at his computer - while I gathered the kids for breakfast.

I remember all-nighters spent at the computer lab during my senior year at university. But, admittedly, I didn't care as much as Bill does, and so my anguish was not as great. By the time I was two semesters away from graduation, I was about getting the grade. Bill is admirably about creating work he feels proud to attach his name to.

Sometimes, it would be handy to be more than mortal.

And so on this Friday, while the world turns their attention to the love of a couple, I am turning my attention to my love for my husband. I am watching that door, willing it to deliver my weary husband to me. While an entire country celebrates on cobbled streets, I will be pulling the bedsheets over my husband's fatigue-drooped shoulders, releasing him to sleep off the rest of this day with a "you did it!" whispered in his ear.

And then, I will go upstairs with the children, and have a party in my soul!

It is over. One more hurtle cleared. One more step closer to freedom. One more battle won in our family's war.

Bill? You did it.