32 Years to the Same Man?

I was talking with a young woman a few weeks ago about marriage and conflict and conflict resolution.  

She asked me, "How have you done it for 32 years?  Stayed married?"

I said, "That's easy.  When I have days that are incredibly good or devastatingly bad, there is one person I want to run to, and that's my husband."

Mike and I are 32 years older than we were on the day we married.    In some ways, we are completely different people than we were then.  People change.  Life changes us, often in ways we would never expect.

And the truth is, some days marriage is hard.  After 32 years, I am often surprised that we argue about the same damn things we argued about in our first year of marriage.  Seriously.  We do.  Arghhh!

On more than one occasion, my husband has not lived up to my very high expectations of him, and I am quite certain that I have failed to meet his expectations as well.

 And yet . . .

One Thing Remains

At our core, one thing remains.  We love each other.  For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, til death do us part. That, my friends, is a rich love that withstands all the crap that life can throw at it.

There is a worship song I love that says,

Your love never fails
It never gives up
It never runs out me


Though I know the words to the song are about Jesus, I believe this is the same love Mike and I pledged to each other on the day we were married. (I technically also pledged to obey. I'm not doing so well in that area! HA!)

I love you Mike Jones, for so many reasons.  I hope you always know how much I love you.

(And in case you forget, just think about how awesome I am in bed!)

All that to say, Happy Anniversary Mr. Man.  I love you.

All That to Say: A Weekend of Surprises

I was on facebook the other day when I saw that one of my former Marathon Makeover peeps was offering her Hyatt San Antonio Riverwalk rooms for $100 a room.  (She had booked the rooms because she thought she'd run the marathon, but an injury sidelined her.)

These are rooms that typically go for well over $400 a night, so I contacted her and took one of the nights off of her hands.  After I contacted my village (aka Zack and Christina) to see if they could watch the girls, I surprised Mike with the announcement that we were going to San Antonio Friday and Saturday!

It was a weekend of surprises to say the least.

We arrived at our hotel room Friday around 3 p.m. and decided to just hang out in our beautiful room.  A couple hours later, after an awesome nap (something we just don't get to do much!) we decided to get moving and get ready for dinner.

I had just undressed when I thought I heard a faint knocking sound.  It stopped so I just assumed that someone was knocking at a door across the hallway.  But you know what happens when you assume, don't you?

All the sudden, I heard our door handle click and the door opened!  (note to self: always use the security lock on your hotel room door!)  Let me tell you, I couldn't have moved any faster out of view if I'd superpowers. 

"HELLO?" I said in a panicked voice.

"I'm here to check your phone,"  the voice said back.

(What the heck?!!!)  I thought in my head.

"Well you aren't gonna do it now!" I said back in the same panicked but slightly tinged with anger voice.

After I put clothes on, we went downstairs to discuss the situation with the hotel staff.  The man at the desk said, "Well I'm sorry that happened.  What would you like me to do for you?"

(In my head, I saw that conversation going differently.)

He suggested we should think about how the hotel could help us and let him know the next day.  Seriously.  I just thought that was an odd approach.  Maybe it's not.

Anyway, next morning, we went downstairs and our helper wasn't there, so we had to re-explain to the new front desk girl what happened.  She blushed when I said naked.  And said, "Oh my goodness."

We said, "The man we spoke to last night suggested we come back this morning and let him know how the hotel could help make it up to us.  We thought maybe if you comp'd our parking that would be nice."

Well apparently she didn't think so.  Because she comp'd our parking, bought our breakfast, and then comp'd our room.  (I think she was more embarrassed than I was!)

All that to say, it was a weekend of surprises.  I wonder what they would have given us if the room intruder had actually SEEN me naked!!!!  Bahahaha!

Day 68: You Had Me At "Hey Baby"

Thirty one years ago today, I walked down the aisle of a tiny, sunlit country church on the arm of my daddy, heart pounding, hands shaking (literally to the point that my bouquet came apart!), waiting to marry the man of my dreams.

That's still such a pretty picture in my mind.  I love thinking about that day and all the promise that it held.

We I had such great plans.

We'd marry.  We'd have a baby boy 3 years into our marriage.  Then we'd have our second child, a girl, three years later.  We'd both be uber professionals.  Mike would most likely be a professor at LSU, tenured of course,  and I'd most likely be running some fortune 500 company.

We'd own a plantation style home and all our family celebrations would take place there.

We would amass a fortune pretty early on, and retire early.

I love thinking back to those days and how well planned everything was.  True to my nature, even back then I was a control freak!

But here is the blessing of the last 31 years of our marriage.  It has looked nothing like the picture in my mind. 

We have traversed some pretty turbulent waters and suffered much loss. We have lost a child, lost parents and grandparents, lost jobs, lost weight (gained it back!) lost our minds and lost our youth.

But oh what we have gained.

We did have two babies, both boys, and not at all in the time frame I thought. Those boys have been the greatest joy of our lives (I'm old . . . it's possible that I have forgotten the teenage years).

We have gained a daughter in law, whom we adore.  If God had let us handpick someone, we would have picked her.

We have gained our daughters, and they have changed our lives in immeasurable ways.

We have gained a deeper respect for one another. We have gained insight into each other's thoughts and reactions. We have gained a desire to grow closer to each other.  We have gained a love that surpasses time and circumstance.

All that to say, Mike Jones, you had me at "Hey baby."