What do I expect from 2009?

I've been trying to figure out what I expect out of 2009. I'm looking forward to Hubb's and I's 3rd anniversary, my 33rd birthday and Hubb turning 28 but other then that, I have pretty low expectations of 2009. I'm hoping that the current state of the economy won't turn into a re-play of the 1930's (makes me wonder what my Grammy thinks about it, maybe I should call her and ask her).

I was thinking back to when Hubbs and I started dating. I was 25, he was...(gasp) 20. I was all about fun and doing crazy stuff, doing my best to not be too serious about life and generally keep my maturity level as low as possible. Funny thing is that when we first started dating Hubbs told me that he never wanted to get married and never wanted to have kids. You can imagine how shocked I was when he proposed. We bought our house after we'd been together 2 years and all of that was long (2 hour drive) distance. We'd spent weekends together, either at my place, his parents or camping with friends but other then that we hadn't taken any long vacations or anything.

About a year after we bought our house, he suggested that we go out to dinner at a fancy place. You have to understand that Hubbs is not a fancy place kinda guy. His idea of dressing up is putting on a clean shirt. At first I was resistant to going to a fancy place. After all we were just finishing up our first year as home owners and money was not exactly using our house as a hang out. But off we went anyway. I remember calling my mom to tell her that we were going out to some place fancy and she got all excited saying that maybe Hubbs was planning something, maybe a marriage proposal. I brushed her off saying that there was no way but boy was I wrong. After dinner he reached in his shirt pocket for his chewing tobacco and got down on one knee and pulled out a diamond ring. Poor guy, I was so confused I had no idea what was going on and kept asking him, "What is that? WHAT is THAT?!!!" referring to the ring. It took a couple of minuets for him to get answer out of me. Of course I said yes! His family knew about it, my dad knew about it, only my mom and I were left in the dark on that one.

I tease him now about being too good of a liar and that I shouldn't trust him because God only knows what he's up to. About a week before we got engaged, he casually mentioned to me that he was going to go up to Oregon with his dad to visit a friend. That wasn't entirely a lie. He did go with his dad but he didn't go specifically to visit a friend. He and his dad drove the 500 miles to my Fathers house in Oregon to ask my dad's permission to marry me. My dad is a very old fashioned guy (I love that about him), and I had mentioned to Hubbs that it had hurt my dad very much when my sister's ex husband hadn't asked for her hand. Hubbs was smart enough to remember that and to make the long drive instead of just calling him. My dad was deeply touched and of course gave him permission. I love my husband dearly for this. He's a wonderful man to do such a hard thing. I can't imagine how stressful that must have been.

We got married almost a year to the day after he proposed. We had a wonderful ceremony in the park by his parents house with all of our family and friends present. We've been together 7.5 years, married for 2.5 years and I still feel lucky. Hubbs is not your average redneck guy, he is their king but being the king has its perks. He's a tough guy on the outside and like to be tougher then shoe leather but at home, when it's just the two of us...he's really sweet and soft and mushy on the inside. He loves hugging me and kissing me and just messing around to make me laugh. Not to mention he's a pretty tolerant guy. I'm not always the easiest girl int he world to get along with. I'm stubborn, feisty and can get down right crotchety (stupid PMS).

So anyway, back to the original subject of what I expect...I don't know what to expect. I'm just hoping that 2009 is better then 2008. It was one hit after another at my house. We had to make unexpected home repairs and vehicle repairs and repairs to relationships, not to mention weight gain. Honestly, I'm glad that 2008 is over. I'm not sure I could have taken much more, especially when the garage door broke on Christmas day and we were unable to get it open. Thankfully, we were able to get it repaired the next day for an arm and a leg.

So to 2008 I say see ya, wouldn't want to be ya. And 2009? Please be kind. I'm still a bit battered and bruised.