2/14

Blast from the past. My funny Valentine.

4017 Days

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Today we celebrate eleven years of marriage.
4017 days.

Last night, J baked me a cake. The guy does not typically bake cakes, I cannot remember him ever baking a cake, this was an EVENT. He made it from a recipe I found on Pinterest (thank you pinterest!). It's delicious. I may go have some when I'm done typing here...

This morning, our kids brought us breakfast in bed with homemade cards. Cheerios for J, toast for me.

In my estimation, the next 4017 days stand to be just as good. Maybe better.

Knowing I've taught my kids that breakfast in bed is a good thing and that cards are required on special occasions means that we are all set until they leave the nest. I'll have to teach Bee how to do a quiche and hollandaise before next June.

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TEN

I wrote about My Love on our 6th anniversary. I also wrote on our 8th anniversary.

Today, we celebrate a decade of marriage. When I look back, it seems like a big deal and a long time and a huge milestone.

When I look forward...not so much.

For there will be 20 years, then 30, 40, 50...and hopefully more after that. Ten years seems like nothing when you look at it facing the future.

I joke often about marriage being a life sentence, but I mean it.

If I had it to do again, I would. Over and over again.

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A Sweet Day

Valentine's Day is especially sweet this year.  We're in the process of finishing our home sale in Omaha and enjoying the feeling of our new home being PERMANENT.

The kids have talked about nothing but pillow pets since Christmas (can you imagine? Our home had NO PILLOW PETS!) so were gifted this morning with their very own pillows/pets. Excitement, pure joy. There were also gifts from my parents, more excitement. And waffles! On Valentiney paper plates!  MORE EXCITEMENT!

Then everyone was off to school/work/the daily routine. But maybe with a slight spring in our step.

I think that's what I like most about the little holidays, and the big ones. It's a day to change the routine, even if just a little. A day to point out the each other - hey, I really like you and the life we share together.

For the Hubs and I, a small token shared between friends, spouses, partners. An awesomely cheesy 80's compilation CD for me and some chocolates for him.

Hey Hubs - I like you and the life we share together. SO MUCH.

What could be better than that?!

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Engaged

We interrupt this tour of Christmases past to remember December 8th, 2000. What a night. The night I got engaged! Seems like something worth noting, a decade of commitment...this June we'll celebrate ten years of marriage.

I wrote the story of how it happened here.

And wrote about our time together here.

What amazes me most is how long ten years sounds...but how short it has felt. How quickly the time passes, how easy it will be to spend ten more years together. And ten after that. And God willing, ten more and more and more and more...

And by easy, I don't really mean easy. Because sheesh, being married is work. But work that is worth it.

So worth it.

Our first Halloween together, we were engaged six weeks later.

 A perfect match.

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A Loss

Goodbye Uncle Melvin.

You will be missed.

You made an impact on my life and for that I will always be grateful.

I will miss being your pen pal.

But I know that we will meet again one day.

Please save me a spot and a popcorn ball.

xo




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Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" John 11: 25-26

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When I Said I Do

I was out of school, working for the state in disability service coordination. I had an apartment in Lincoln, he had just finished his last season of football at Kearney. I was 23, he was days from his 23rd birthday. We saw each other on the weekends and had toyed with the idea of marriage. He would be finishing school in the spring and looking for a teaching job. We had always had a long distance relationship and knew that we wanted to be together, in the same town, and build our future together.

I met him at his parents' in Omaha on December 8th, 2000 and we went to AMC to see Jim Carrey in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. He acted a little funny about his coat in the theater, wanting to keep it in his seat when I offered to throw it in the empty seat next to me. I didn't think much of it at the time.

After the movie we went to Barnes & Noble for hot chocolate. We were standing in line to pay and he told me to stick my hand in his coat pocket. I obliged and felt a ring box. My face must have lit up, I can still feel the beaming smile. He asked me if he should do it right there, and I said NO! We walked to the car, this sense of anticipation hanging over us. He opened my car door and as I climbed in, he got down on one knee right in the parking lot. I can't remember exactly what he said because I was floating, flying. I said Yes! And we were engaged. He had bought me the ring that I admired the one time we went shopping. The ring that he told me there was no way he could buy. The round diamond set in platinum that became the symbol of his commitment to me.

We were married six months later in my hometown. My mother was a wonderful wedding planner, asking my opinion and then taking care of the arrangements. I told her I wanted it to seem like a garden. No balloons. No lace. No tulle. She listened and put together a beautiful wedding in the modest church where I grew up. We rented the Eagles Club in a neighboring town and had a party to remember. It was so much fun!

What I remember most is how proud I felt that this wonderful guy would love me. Marry me.

He is a poet. An athlete. Strong and loyal. Funny. Smart. He was everything I ever wanted and independent and hard headed enough to keep it interesting. It's never dull and I never wanted it to be.

Eight years ago today we said I do and every year I am more grateful that we did.

I love you, Hubs.

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Popcorn, Toast, or Scrambled Eggs

Since we've met, one or both of us have been in college. We like being students, the Husband and me.

Right now, he's working towards his doctorate. This is something that I admire him for very much. The word dissertation gives me hives. He takes it in stride, seemingly fearless about comps, dissertations, and the time that stretches ahead.

This semester he's gone Tuesdays and Thursdays until almost 8:00.

This leads to a more...ahem...casual dining experience a couple of times a week.

Tonight the little man and I are eating popcorn and peanuts. We had cinnamon toast earlier, when we got home from school. B is at a play date until after supper. When she's home I sometimes get a little fancier still and we eat cheesy scrambled eggs with our toast. There's usually fruit for dessert and we are satisfied.

It seems old fashioned of me, only feeling the need to cook a "real" dinner when the Hubs is home. It is what it is.

We miss him, but eating like we are in college too is kind of fun. I think on Thursday we might eat cheese melted on tortillas. Another no-cook supper favorite!

Happy B-day Hubs!

He might not remember that the first of his birthdays we spent together, we had been engaged for two days. It sort of eclipsed the whole turning twenty three thing. We met friends downtown and there were lots of "Congratulations! Let me see the ring! Oh...and happy birthday J."

Looking back, the past eight years have been my favorite. The best parts of my thirty one years. He likes to kid because I turn the next age two months before he does. I'm the older woman.

So today we're the same age again. It's eight years later. The ring is still on my finger. Be still my heart.

Love you, J.

I've got four days (four days!) off , starting tomorrow.

It's been a happy Valentine's Day (or VD, as my Dear Cousin calls it).

Have wonderful weekend.


I'll leave you with the same cheer that the Hubs surprised me with at work today.

Love ya Hubs.

The Little Things

Hubs is heading out tonight for a faculty get-together at a friend's house. Since we never, ever hire a sitter, we just attend these solo.

I mentioned that he could bring me home a beer from the six-pack he picks up, since he certainly won't drink them all there.

And do you know what he did?

He went to get his own beverages for the FAC soiree and then brought home something for me.

That's love.

When a man knows just how badly his woman needs a beer.

TGIF.

My Love

Today is my sixth wedding anniversary.

Yes, this is me.

On June 2nd, 2001, I felt beautiful. It was one of those perfect days when everything came together and we were able to enjoy every moment as it came.







And I married my guy. This great guy who challenges me, loves me, and is faithful to me.












In honor of our anniversary, here is a timeline of the last seven years:

2/19/00: The night we met. In a bar (gasp!).

2/20/00: Met for a double date. Mexican food and bowling. I saw him later that very same night at the library on our college campus (how had I never seen him before?). I tried to hide it, but I was smitten.

5/00: I graduate with my Bachelor's.

12/8/00: He proposes. I accept.

5/01: He graduates with his Bachelor's.

6/2/01: We get hitched.

12/01: Buy a house.

2/02: Get a dog.

11/02: Pregnant!

7/03: Baby!

1/04: I start grad. school.

8/04: He finishes grad. school. Master's degree.

6/05: New job for me. Move to Omaha. New house.

7/05: Pregnant (surprise!) again.

4/06: Baby #2!

8/06: I graduate. Master's Degree. New jobs at different schools for us both.

6/2/07: Here we are.


My head is spinning. It has never been dull. I love you hubs!

speechless?

When I was typing my title - I actually misspelled speech. Speach?!?! That's a perfect example of my brain right now. The fog is back. I think it's a combination of longer hours this week (we worked one long day for parent-teacher conferences) and a stressful week at home. There are these moments - moments when I think that being married is hard and that I should have had a class in my 181 credit hours of bachelor's and graduate work that dealt with marriage. As I type that, I remember that I did. I took a class called Marriage & Family Relations. A fat lot of good that did. I guess it's nothing you can learn from a book. It requires on the "job" training. We're learning as we go. I'm not going to go into details. I'll just leave it at being married is hard. And I'm so in the thick of it that I can't even think of a witty, optimistic follow-up to that. The light at the end of the tunnel is that my mood always lifts when the hubby and I spar and things always return to sunny when that happens. Now I'm just waiting...for the mood to lift. Come on mood, lift. Please.

I just don't even have words for how things are today. I am really glad it's Friday and that I've got a low-key weekend to recharge. I'll check back in when I've got more words. Hence the title, speechless. Comments regarding marriage, happy or otherwise, welcome and encouraged!