"OMG I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN FOREVER!"

I've written a lot about how amazing my husband was. What I have neglected to mention is that I'm pretty amazing myself. This is why we made a dynamic couple. I've worked full time since I was 16. Ok, no big deal. I continued to work all the way through college, saved my money, spent wisely, and made good decisions. I graduated college without debt. Steven drove me to my graduation at EIU. I remember going up in his silver truck and changing my clothes in the parking lot. I also remember him texting me from the bleachers as we sat and listened to those boring speakers talk about how to be successful (we already knew how, so we didn't really care what they had to say).

My 5 year class reunion is tonight. I have a hard time summarizing my last five years. I graduated college without debt, I landed my dream job within 3 months of graduating, and I got married. I watched a business grow from the ground up, I learned how to be an adult, and we built a house. I remember talking to Steven about going to the class reunion, a subject I approached carefully. I had to make it sound like his idea and convince him that he would get something out of it. His only response was, "I'm not payin no fucking $13 a plate for Niemergs. We'll go out to eat before we go." Then, he thought for a good hour about ways to make me look good at the reunion. What vehicle should we arrive in? Maybe we could borrow an escalade from Northside! I suggested taking the big green jeep (if you haven't seen it, it looks pretty badass). He was also sold on the fact that its a BYOB event. Then he had to decide which bottle of liquor to take. It couldn't just be any old bottle of whiskey or any old brand of beer. No, it had to be something high dollar and classy! I tried to ground him in reality, but he insisted that his goal was to impress everybody and make me look like the best, most successful person at the reunion. Steven took an otherwise annoying event and turned it in to an opportunity to show off how proud he was of me.

Now, I'm going to this reunion as a widow. But I'm still not payin no $13 for a plate of Niemergs.