The Seven Year Itch by Rubyellen Bratcher

Scratchy, itchy, I’m starting to twitch,
I think my dear Ben, we’ve hit the seven year itch.

Boring, tiring, monotony filled,
I do all your laundry, it’s time to send you a bill.

Long, endless, the days blend together,
I want to float away like a teeny white feather.

Same ‘ole, same ‘ole, again and again,
I feel ruffled and bothered just like old mother hen.

Crazy, messy, a lot of insane.
I try to keep my head above water is the name of this game.

Yelling, fighting, your offspring they do,
I play referee but they gang on me two by two.

But who am I kidding, I love this neurotic life,
I am in for the long haul, it’s fun to be your wife.

Boring, tiring, monotony filled,
I know what to expect and that gives me a thrill.

Long, endless, the days blend together,
I would slow it all down from now until forever.

Same ‘ole, same ‘ole, again and again,
I love waking up to you handsome Ben.

Crazy, messy, a lot of insane.
I love you so dearly, my love can’t be tamed.

Yelling, fighting, your offspring they do,
I love your minis, Glow, Soul, Brave and True.

Scratchy, itchy, I’m starting to twitch.
I only want you to scratch this seven year itch.

We celebrated 7 years of being married this past Monday. It was a good anniversary. It was the most low key one yet. We had originally planned to send the girls off to my parents’ for the weekend, but we ended up keeping them all weekend long. All I wanted to do was clean and keep cleaning the house, and that is exactly what we did! It seems like a lame way to spend an anniversary, but I was quite happy cleaning all day long. All I really wanted to do anyways was be with Ben and relax, and though it wasn’t relaxing, I can’t really relax in a messy house anyways.

Monday morning, we did our little gift exchange and then we kept on cleaning. For dinner, we put the kids to bed early, then picked up sushi from our favorite place, and had a sweet little date in our bedroom with dinner and a movie. Simple and sweet. We may try to go out on Saturday just the two of us to celebrate, but with this cleaning kick we both are on, I wouldn’t be surprised if we forfeit that and stay home and keep cleaning. We’re lame, aren’t we?! If we are, at least we both don’t mind being lame together.

I had no anniversary present request and neither did he. We both ended up surprising each other with something handmade. I did a spin on the “seven year itch” and made a Shel Silverstein inspired poem for him accompanied with a drawing and cover page I did in ink and then digitalized. He loved it, but was feeling bad after reading the poem because he said he needs to give me more breaks. I thought that was pretty funny because I didn’t mean to make him feel bad, but was just trying to do mimic the sarcasm that Shel Silverstein emits in his poems. At the same time, I think the poem does emphasize what married life with kids is really like. It’s not always magical and there is a lot of work, but in the end, I love this life that I have been given a chance to live, frustrating moments and all!

Ben’s present has a bit of a backstory with it…  when he asked me to be his girlfriend he made me this book entitled 1,000 Things I Absolutely and Positively Love About You. When we were dating, he would randomly leave me notes of what he loved about me to put in the book and I think he got to number 11 and then life happened and the notes stopped. On occasion, I would joke with him that he still only loves 11 things about me. Well, he gave that book idea a makeover and found a vintage journal online that he wanted to use for it, contacted this lady to calligraphy the title, and started again with #1: How patient you are with me. Actually this project took him a year, apparently it was supposed to be last year’s anniversary present, but it took him a year to find the perfect journal to use and this 1911 french registrar book is the perfect thing! I am in love with the book, but so much more with the gift giver.

Ben and I laugh about how we spent our anniversary just cleaning, but really, for me, it was perfect.