24 Year Ago Today....

... I was about to walk down the aisle.

It was 7:30 on a Saturday night and we were in LUV!

Wow... just thinking about all we have been through. Your list is probably similar..
jobs, moves, layoffs, children, inlaws... happy time and hard times.

I was struck by what Beate wrote about how she feels when she holds her husbands hand. I can't figure out how to link the specific post... but here is her main one and her post is at the end here.

Isn't it funny how something small sticks with you?

When she held his hand, she felt she was HOME.

I wonder if men know how important that is to their wives?


My dh and I have been through, some easy, some not.. when I read what Beate wrote, I realized how true that was for me. Maybe we didn't talk it all out at the beginning... we just were living. We both had our MBAs and were ready to conquer the world! He wanted to work his way up through sales, me through finance. And we had some great conversations at dinners at night. I would talk about the pushy salesmen who thought they were the saviors of the company when they would walk in my office at the 13th hour with the quarter-saving order...

Dh would tell me about the 'overhead' who would block his sales at his corporate office. But we laughed, and traveled and grocery-shopped and didn't think about kids.

Who knew our life would change so much? A child of the secular world I had no idea what was awaiting. Sometimes I wish I had known about the front porches and babysmells earlier, as Beate wrote about. But, God knew me and knew we would come around.

Somewhere around my first baby and my 31st birthday, my dh was moved across the country and I became a SAHM. It was bittersweet. Sweet becaue of my baby, bitter because it was new and I was on my own, not sure who I was.

But fast forward till now and I am probably THE happiest SAHM there is, and am finding a new and exciting relationship with an old friend, my dh. We are playing racqetball again, something we did when we dated. And with the boys older and beoming friends, we are all feeling very comfy in our family.

God has a plan for us all. I am so thankful for the road he has put me on. It has not been perfect... I have not been perfect, but love abounds.

I have a man of few words, too, Beate. And I wanted to mention this...
Saturday night I was invited to a banquet to honor the voluteers at the prision my dh mentors at. I was amazed. These men, many the ones you would avoide on a street corner, loved us. They loved us being there. I realized I was biased and did not see. I felt Jesus whispering in my ear that we need to love and visit those in prison.

Really.

At dinner last night as I was describing the scene (and it was incredible) to my sons, my dh watched me.
I ended by saying that I was changed.

"That is how I have felt for a year and a half." my dh said looking at me closely.

I then knew even more that I need to listen to this man. He is quiet, but a lot is going on. I need to listen. I am very much in awe of him.

Happy Anniverary to all, as this is the season for marriages.... and to us, too. I am very lucky. :)


Here is Beate's post...: wonderful!

Life's short, talk fast ;-)
Dh and I married two and a half months after our first kiss - ten weeks and one day in fact. It doesn't sound like very much time to fall in love and plan a future, but I was a goner the first time he held my hand - during Mass, twelve days before that first kiss Importantly though, we talked about all the things that really matter, such as:

Kids - of course

Where they would sleep - with us, naturally! Okay, he was skeptical about that one, but now he's a true believer

Family planning - nothing artificial

TV in the bedroom - no way

We also discussed family, faith, front porches, horses, dogs and cows - not necessarily in that order. Yup, we fit a lot into those short weeks, which is pretty amazing considering my guy's penchant for short conversations Two weeks from today we'll celebrate fourteen years as husband and wife. It seems like only yesterday, but also like I've known him since I first came into being. Weird, huh? I love that man!! ~ Momma B