Ten Years

Today is the tenth anniversary of the day that I married my husband. I remember the day well, it was warm and windy, and there was no A/C in the church. I was nervous, but excited. All of our friends and family were there to celebrate with us. The most clear memory I have of the day is coming out of the church with Todd when it was all over, and the wind was blowing my veil around and I felt this tremendous relief and joy. I told myself that I would always remember that moment. Most of my sharpest memories come from me stopping and looking at the moment as though from a distance and telling myself, "You are always going to remember this." And I do. I've been doing that since a very young age. I still remember some very stupid meaningless details that pop into my head every so often. But they are fun to use in a story. Anyway, I can hardly believe it has been ten years already. The years have been crazy, filled with happiness, misery, utter joy, anger, frustration, contentment, etc. I think back to my wedding day and realize that I was incredibly young (22) and stupid. What did I know about anything? What does anyone know at that age, or when they first get married? Doesn't everyone believe their love will last forever? And yet more than half of marriages end in divorce. The odds that Todd and I will last are even less, as we lived together before marriage (for some reason the statistics show this). And yet, here we are, ten years later, with three kids, a house and a life together that we have created. And, although there has been some extremely difficult times, we are still in love, and happy to be together.

Things are going to be changing again very soon. I am going to be working at the high school when school starts as a paraprofessional, working with Special Ed. students. This summer I have become accustomed to staying up until midnight (or later) and sleeping in, then lazing around, drinking coffee, writing, cooking, cleaning and doing whatever I want all day with the kids. This will all come to an abrupt halt as both boys will now be in school all day and I will be working. The part that bothers me is being away from Grace. For two years now we have barely been separated. I will miss her so much...but I think it will all work out. It's only on school days. And if it doesn't work out, oh well. I will also be doing more for the paper. All of the sudden I have more than enough work to do. But when will I find time to work on my novel??? I better go get some work done now, I only have 12 days of leisure remaining....