Megen over at Sparing Change wrote about her and her husband's story and asked others to share theirs. I couldn't think of a better idea for a Valentine's Day post so here's my husband's and my story.
Our story starts back in August 1999. It was the first time I noticed him. I was about to start my freshmen year of high school and was on the bus going to summer band camp. I still remember what he was wearing when he stepped onto the bus. He was a junior that year and with me being a freshmen, I didn't have the nerve to speak to him....yet. I admired him from afar until it was about time for a school dance; winter dance. I wanted to ask him to the dance but being shy I slipped a note into his locker. I didn't hear from him and after awhile I began wondering, "did I put it in the wrong locker!?" Our homeroom classes were right next to each other that semester and one morning my bus was late. I got to the hall where our lockers were and there he was walking toward me...Mr Griffa had sent him to take a plant to Mrs Baine. I gathered up the courage and stopped him to ask him if he got my letter. He had. But he wasn't going to the dance. I was crushed but I continued to crush on him. One of the things I remember about homeroom class that semester was the little hall that connected my homeroom to Richard's. There was another Richard in hubby's class and my friend, Elicia, and I would spend the time before the bell rung some days looking through that little hall watching the Richards.
As time went on, he wasn't showing any interest in me so I gave up. That was until about the beginning of 2001when a boyfriend broke up with me and Richard began flirting with me. Valentine's Day Dance was coming up. I wanted to ask him to go with me but I didn't want to be turned down. Finally my friends had had enough. They black mailed me one day at lunch. They told me that if I didn't ask him myself, they would do it for me. I nervously walked over to his table and asked. He said yes! He had also started driving me to and from school around that time. On February 1, 2001, he was dropping me off after school and asked me to be his girl friend. I was a happy girl!
Fast forward to 2005. We were still dating. We had talked about marriage but there had been no proposal. ...until one evening after work. We were sitting on his bed and he popped the question. It was spur of the moment; he had no ring. I said yes!!...and we went ring shopping. It was awhile before the date was set. We moved into our first place together in March 2006, the date was set for October 14, 2006 and the wedding planning began.
October 14, 2006 was a magical day. We were surrounded by family and friends and everything was perfect. The honeymoon wasn't so bad either. ;) We were loving life. Then a very difficult event happened. I lost my Granddad in December of 2006. My grandparents and I were very close so I took this very hard. Richard was my rock. Later that month we began talking about children. We had only been married a short time but had been together for over five years. The thing that made up our mind was the fact that we wanted our grandparents to know atleast one of our children. I only had one grandparent left, my Granny. Her health wasn't the best and losing Granddad was really difficult for her. February 2007 we got to tell her that she was going to have another great grandchild. Sean was born November 1, 2007. We lost Granny in July 2008..very shortly before we found out about our surprise baby, Maddy. We went from a family of 3 to a family of 4 on April 1, 2009. The latest change to our family was just 6 1/2 weeks ago when we welcomed our third child, Emily, into our family.
Our new family of 3
In her post, Megen says, "What the fairytales don’t tell you is about how difficult it can be for two completely different people to come together as one." I whole heartily agree. We've been married for a little over 5 years now. We've had our ups and downs; some high highs and some low lows. There is no perfect marriage and one thing you can not understand before hand is the work a good marriage takes. Our lowest low wasn't all that long ago, while I was pregnant with Emily. Looking back, I don't think we were as good as we should have been before getting pregnant again. I respect Richard so I will not go into details but he did something to make our marriage begin to snowball. It came to a point where if we were going to make this work, we needed to do a lot of work...and we did. I joined Megen in an online marriage book club. Richard did some reading too. And we talked a lot. Through all this we began to see both of our faults and what we could improve. Slowly things began to look better. It's an on going thing to keep things going good. We both have to work at it, working hard not to go back to our old ways. But we love each other and we are committed. With time I believe things will get better and easier but then I don't believe there's ever a time in marriage that there isn't room for improvement. One of our highest highs was Emily's birth day. It was amazing. Once again, Richard was my rock. That day proved to me that we've made a lot of progress.
Our story starts back in August 1999. It was the first time I noticed him. I was about to start my freshmen year of high school and was on the bus going to summer band camp. I still remember what he was wearing when he stepped onto the bus. He was a junior that year and with me being a freshmen, I didn't have the nerve to speak to him....yet. I admired him from afar until it was about time for a school dance; winter dance. I wanted to ask him to the dance but being shy I slipped a note into his locker. I didn't hear from him and after awhile I began wondering, "did I put it in the wrong locker!?" Our homeroom classes were right next to each other that semester and one morning my bus was late. I got to the hall where our lockers were and there he was walking toward me...Mr Griffa had sent him to take a plant to Mrs Baine. I gathered up the courage and stopped him to ask him if he got my letter. He had. But he wasn't going to the dance. I was crushed but I continued to crush on him. One of the things I remember about homeroom class that semester was the little hall that connected my homeroom to Richard's. There was another Richard in hubby's class and my friend, Elicia, and I would spend the time before the bell rung some days looking through that little hall watching the Richards.
Newly dating: Valentine's dance 2001
Fast forward to 2005. We were still dating. We had talked about marriage but there had been no proposal. ...until one evening after work. We were sitting on his bed and he popped the question. It was spur of the moment; he had no ring. I said yes!!...and we went ring shopping. It was awhile before the date was set. We moved into our first place together in March 2006, the date was set for October 14, 2006 and the wedding planning began.
Engaged:
Wedding Day
Our new family of 3
In her post, Megen says, "What the fairytales don’t tell you is about how difficult it can be for two completely different people to come together as one." I whole heartily agree. We've been married for a little over 5 years now. We've had our ups and downs; some high highs and some low lows. There is no perfect marriage and one thing you can not understand before hand is the work a good marriage takes. Our lowest low wasn't all that long ago, while I was pregnant with Emily. Looking back, I don't think we were as good as we should have been before getting pregnant again. I respect Richard so I will not go into details but he did something to make our marriage begin to snowball. It came to a point where if we were going to make this work, we needed to do a lot of work...and we did. I joined Megen in an online marriage book club. Richard did some reading too. And we talked a lot. Through all this we began to see both of our faults and what we could improve. Slowly things began to look better. It's an on going thing to keep things going good. We both have to work at it, working hard not to go back to our old ways. But we love each other and we are committed. With time I believe things will get better and easier but then I don't believe there's ever a time in marriage that there isn't room for improvement. One of our highest highs was Emily's birth day. It was amazing. Once again, Richard was my rock. That day proved to me that we've made a lot of progress.
Richard, I love you. We've been together for 11 years and I look forward to many more.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Happy Valentine's Day!
Our crazy family of 5
Don't forget to read Megen's story and link up your own.
And everyone should read The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts
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Thanks for sharing your beautiful story and for telling us about the linky. I linked up my story too. Happy Valentine's Day!
ReplyDeleteGreat story!! I love all the pictures you've taken over the years (we dont have many pictures of the both of us). It definitely is alot of work, but worth it! Thank you for linking up and telling your story!
ReplyDeleteI've forgotten how scrawny he was in high school, lmbo!!
ReplyDelete