They've got me beat - by 29 years.

Next year is a REALLY big year for the Brown's. Okay, not that big.... no engagements or weddings or babies (Praise God), but it's still pretty damn significant. Drum roll, please.... 


....... Swayne and Andrea will celebrate thirty years of wedded bliss on the 23rd day of the second month. THIRTY YEARS of holy matrimony. Well... Mom will tell you they weren't all holy and blissful but alas, there have been thirty of them. Do you people have any conception of how long that is? Cause I sure as hell don't. I have a hard enough time making it thirty minutes through a date with a guy, let alone three decades. 

The (most of the time) Happy Couple

Their Offspring in the center, plus a few

 

 

You just don't hear of such a thing anymore. It makes me proud and hopeful and thankful and scared shitless. Not many children have been fortunate enough to be able to see their parents celebrate such a milestone, hell most spouses haven't even been lucky enough to be able to celebrate this accomplishment together. It really is amazing, it's a blessing and it's something I strive for in *every* relationship I have with *every* person in my life. Thirty years develops a damn good history together.


In my attempt to find my 30+ years partner, my criteria has changed a bit. Okay, a lot. Okay, DRASTICALLY. Let me enlighten you....


List of "criteria" at age 18: Hot. Cool car. Funny. Nice. Cell phone. Doesn't cheat on me.
List of "criteria" at age 21: Attractive. Fun to go out with. Gets along with my friends. Honest. Decent job.
List of "criteria" at age 26.7: Humor. Compassion. Faithfulness. Willingness. Honesty. Communication. Humor. Humor. Humor.


AH-MAZING how, within a matter of a few years, everything you ever thought was important suddenly... isn't? It's like you wake up one day (for me it was in my mid-late twenties... so, uh yesterday pretty much) and it smacks you in the face. Do I really give a shit if the man of my dreams drives a "cool car"? I mean, seriously?! Is it imperative that he have sun-kissed skin and geled hair? Uhhhh, WTF? The truth of the matter is, I want someone who will make me laugh. Looks fade (and pretty damn quickly, too - I've seen it, but I won't name drop). Money comes, money flows, money goes. Kids grow up, friends fade, parents die. But if you've got someone who will make you laugh through all of life's struggles, you've got a lot. More than most. Hell, if it can work for my parents then it can work for me.  Now I've got to find someone who is actually just as funny, if not funnier, than myself. So, basically.... I'm screwed.
 
As Big once said in SATC (Sex and the City)..... "After awhile, you just want to be with the one that makes you laugh."