The Summer Before I Turned Sixteen

It's interesting that in the middle of a topic on crisis in a marriage I would celebrate my anniversary. Though there are days it seems like we've been married since 1776, it's been thirteen. Now I'm starting to cry as I write this. God knew what he was doing when he brought us together.

The short version of our story, lacking details, is this. I was 15 when I first laid eyes on Todd and thought "yeah, this one is a real winner," sarcastically of course. He didn't make a very good impression. I will expound upon all these details as I feel led to in future posts. The second time I saw Todd was when I went into Captain Wishbone, a catering company, looking for my first job.

We worked together.

We grew into friends.

He was a "fraidy-cat."

I asked him out.

I was fifteen, it was the summer before I turned sixteen. We both feel hard-core in love, or what teenagers would call "hard-core in love" anyway. In the fall just over one year later in my senior year of high school, I learned I was pregnant. Sounds good so far ey! I graduated with honors from high school in June carrying our first baby full term but not without ups, downs, illness, and complications. And, we got married that August in 1995. There are so many gory details leading to that day and an abundance of lessons learned that follow that day. As you can gather from my last post, not all of them rained gum drops and lollipops but I'm glad we weathered the storms.

Our children spent the night at my mother-in-law's house last night and my parent's took us out for a fun and delicious dinner. I had hoped because the built-in alarm clocks slept elsewhere I'd get some extra rest but at just past 7:00 a.m. my lovely hubby of 13 years woke me from a very restful sleep. He was patient while I showered and got gussied up so I was a pretty as possible for the day. Which proved to be a bit difficult since I have a serious, stress related acne problem right now and the medication I use makes the acne look like I have a flesh eating bacteria. To make things worse I have a bad patch near my mouth which is swollen and looks like I have some kind of disease and/or was beaten up. Nice huh! So after waiting patiently he took me to breakfast for a cup of joe, pancakes, and toast. He opened all the doors and was such a gentleman. We talked and took our time.

Breakfast was followed by a couples pedicure. Seriously, this guy was so made for me! It was the best experience of my life, after my wedding and the birth of my children of course. It was really, really, yummy and perfect. I ended up in an almost comatose state from being so relaxed which I needed desperately. It was made especially lovely because I could smile at my hubby and have sweet conversation with him. The salon was ran by a cute little Vietnamese couple. My husband told them we were there for our anniversary and it had been 13 years. They were so cute, their jaws about hit the floor. Then Todd told them we have five kids and their eyes popped from their heads. The man was so nice though, he said "you two were so nice and talked so soft and sweetly to each other I thought you must be newlyweds."

We're going to spend the rest of the day on the motorcycle scouting locations, walking in downtown Rochester, maybe get some Coldstone, and I get to snap some shots of my handsome man.

I am filled with peace and joy today. I'm actually just down right giddy. He loves me so and I'm more head-over-heels, madly in love with him today than ever before. I've been asked by two separate people in my lifetime if I overcompensate when I talk about my husband and our marriage. I can honestly say I don't. It is THAT good. Not because I'm easy to live with or that being married is easy but because of who my husband is. He is strong, loyal, down-to-earth, funny. The man can always make me laugh. He is compassionate, patient, sexy, but he is also stubborn and strong-willed. He isn't afraid to make a mistake. He always apologizes. He is sincere, ambitious, and what I love most about him is his heart for God. He prayed for me before he knew me. He told God the kind of wife he hoped for. Though I wasn't what he asked for when we met, through God and Todd I have become that woman. He makes me a better me. I am who I am today because I met my husband. I am a better wife, mother, human today because of who Todd is; because of the example he sets of what a loving person should be. I just adore him and feel like I have little red hearts floating around my head today. I love you Todd!