It’s official. We beat my parents’ record. We’ve been married 8 years today, my parents missed their 8th anniversary by about 4 months. As a child of divorce, this is a milestone for me. I did it. I beat my parents. I feel strong in my marriage and confident that I’ll beat those statistics that pronounced me more likely to get a divorce myself.

That photo of us is a crappy scan. Gawd we were dirt poor. The wedding was small but it was sweet. That dress was not my dream dress. It was second hand and even with my grandmother’s alterations, it didn’t fit well. We couldn’t afford a professional photographer so my uncle took the photos. It was January and we couldn’t afford fresh flowers, so my step-sister-in-law’s mother did all the flowers. They were artificial, not my dream, but the love that went into them was worth more than anything else.


Yet our marriage has never been about the wedding. I had been in several weddings and had my fill of all the wedding drama that goes on. I wanted to run off to Vegas and elope–have an adventure and make that a part of our wedding story. But we didn’t. We stayed and had a wedding that our families could all attend and hopefully heal the rift with his family over our getting married. He thinks it helped. Maybe it did.


If we hadn’t had the wedding that we did, I wouldn’t have these photographic memories to share. Like this one–it’s one of my favorites from that day of me and my dad. He’s putting the six pence in my shoe and asking why it is that he had to do this again?





8 years. It has been 8 of the hardest and most joyful years of my life. These are years that have tested me and my husband as individuals and as a couple and our marriage has remained strong and our friendship has grown deeper.


8 YEARS
1 miscarriage
3 children
3 C-sections
1 tubal ligation
6 ER visits (that we can remember)
2 pediatric cardiologist visits complete with X-rays, EKG and ultrasound–1 when our first born was one week old, the other when he was 2 years old.
1 diagnosis of a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) and 1 pronouncement of a complete natural repair of the VSD
10 job changes
1 runaway 16 year old sister
1 missing father
3 funerals
5 moves
2 mortgages
21 automobiles (Yes, you read that right–he’s a hot rod/muscle car guy.)
3 car loans
3 motorcycles
2 boats
1 dune buggy and 1 go cart (He insisted I include these.)
2 presidential elections (He’s a republican while I’m a democrat; things can get sticky around here.)
14 cats (3 deaths and 3 found new homes.)
8 dogs (4 found new homes over the years for varying reasons.)
2 bunnies
and 1 extremely nasty neighbor who called the cops on us more times than we can count and caused even more arguments.


Oh and lets not forget 4 semesters of graduate school.


From this photo, you would think that someone had just told us that all this was coming.





We have survived the grief, the worry, the life changes, and stresses along with many more joys and come out stronger and closer than ever. And I know that as long as I have him at my side I can get through anything.


So, happy 8th wedding anniversary to us. I pray I never have to know life without this man, his love, and friendship in it.


**If you haven’t entered the drawing for my giveaway yet, make sure you enter before the Super Bowl kickoff on Sunday!**

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