This Is Marriage: Day 193

This morning I woke up in the house that we now own. Outright. As in, yesterday I paid off our mortgage. We put a lot of money down when we bought the house, then once I sold my old house, we were able to pay off the rest of the mortgage on our new house. During my lunch break yesterday, I went to the bank to deposit the check and pay off the rest of our mortgage. The teller asked "Do you mean pay down or pay off?" I said "Pay off. As in, the whole thing." She asked me what the big check was from. Sometimes when strangers are nosy, I am really, really tempted to say something ridiculous like "Porn. It's a really lucrative business." You know, just to see their facial expressions, which would be priceless. But instead I told her the truth, that it was from the sale of my house. As she was processing the transactions, she said "Just to let you know, we have a special right now on a home equity line of credit." Facepalm. The whole point of my visit to the bank was to pay off our debt, not accrue more.

This is the first time I have ever owned a house, like really truly owned it, debt-free. It is a fantastic feeling. And also a bit surreal. How did this happen? I could say that I worked hard and sacrificed and saved. But that's really only a small part of it. The truth is that I got lucky. Lucky that I had parents who cared about me and taught me how to be a person in the world. Lucky that I met Bill, who gave me the job I've had for the past 12 years. Lucky that I met Jeff, Stephen, Jeremy, Lucky, Mike, Mozzie, Danielle and Charlie and they came and lived with me at my house. Beyond lucky that I met Pete and he became my partner in creating an adventurous, hilarious, debt-free life. We have already done so many things together that I could never have done by myself. Somehow I am living a life that surpasses all my wildest, most impossible dreams. All because I was lucky enough to meet you.

People are awesome. Marriage is awesomeness squared.

Lyric of the moment: "Lucky I'm in love with my best friend. Lucky to have been where I have been. Lucky to be coming home again..." ~Jason Mraz "Lucky"