  Happy day, indeed. This morning the bright, fresh sunlight shed in the windows and solar panels that are the south-facing wall of our Earthship and woke the whole family up to greet the dawn. Those beautiful rays were so welcome that I wasn't even groggy from that early hour, which I haven't seen since we stayed in the Harris Earthship! John leaned over Ellie and kissed me on the cheek and said happy anniversary. What a dear. On this day, nine years ago, we had our first date. We were both Freshmen in college. Like this year, UTEP had a great basketball team and I shared my post-season tickets with him. Afterward, we went to Hudson's on Mesa in El Paso and talked for hours. I remember not being able to stop smiling as I looked across the table.
So today, we begin our tenth year! I can't wait! We've had nine fantastic, adventure-filled years. These years have seen the highest joys and the lowest sorrows of my life. My two beautiful children Aidan and Ella and my sweet Grace who I miscarried come first to my mind. Day before yesterday we got a call informing us that our house had been broken into back at home. I didn't even care about the stuff, I was just upset that it was disturbing my urlLink extraordinary time here .
We had someone board it up, and we're carrying on with this celebration of our years together. Last night Greg came over for dinner, what a treat! My cousin is a doctoral student in Physics at UT Austin and he's here for spring break. For just the evening, we all felt like we never left New Mexico and we were just enjoying the family and companionship that is normal life here.
Today, we're off to Santa Fe to visit one of the kids' three sets of grandparents, my bio dad and step-mom. They're planning to babysit so John and I can go out tonight. I bought the sexiest shirt yesterday here in Taos, and am looking forward to wearing it! Wherever you are tonight, lift your green beer for our tenth year! Happy St. Patty's Day! 
