Alex and I have a give and take relationship in that we give and take a lot teasing/cr@p about things in our marriage. (This entry will probably have more added to it as thing come up)
I chose today to write about this because it is the last day of an annual 26 days razzing.
26 Days of Old: I am 1 year and 26 days older than Alex, so for the 26 days between April 3 and April 29 Alex loves to "remind me" that numbers wise I am TWO YEARS OLDER than he is. He takes such joy in pointing this out to me and anyone else who happens to be around when the subject comes up. "But I still love you" he says :-)
Did I Lie to You? (Also known as the Great Rest Stop Debate): July 2006 we are moving cross country from the DC area to Great Falls, MT. I am driving the sedan and Alex is driving a small U-Haul truck with a car trailer attached that is towing our 1992 Ford Taurus Stationwagon (affectionately known as "the blue bomber") Unfortunately due to time constraints and towing with a U-Haul we could not make this as much of a "moving vacation" as I had desired. I had wanted to visit a few National Parks and Historic Sites along the way and Alex had wanted to visit Camp Perry. We did manage to stop at The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota (a story for another entry) but other than that we were driving to Montana and only stopping when neccessary--no National Parks, no "outdoor supply stores".
Day four we are leaving Bismark, ND heading west on I-94. Shortly after a gas stop we come up on a rest area (which just also happens to be a visitors center for Theodore Rosevelt National Park). I am ahead of the U-haul and radio to tell Alex I need to stop. I take my National Parks Passport Book and go into the visitors center to get it stamped. Then I make everyone have their picture taken at the view point and the National Park Sign. Finally I go and use the restroom. Alex says I lied to him. I say I didn't. I said "I need to stop"--just because he assumed it was for a restroom does not mean I lied.
I only dated you because I didn't want to hurt your feelings: We are at an evening fellowship potluck for our adult sunday school class at Calvary Baptist in Woodbridge VA. We've been married about 18 years. We are sharing about how we met and became couples. I make a comment about when Alex asked if he could be my boyfriend I said yes because I didn't want to hurt his feelings. I thought that I had told Alex YEARS AGO that had been my initial thought when he had asked that question. Apparently, I was wrong.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Take a Date
In our marriage small group we are using "20 Surprisingly Simple Rules and Tools for a Great Marriage". Each couple has chosen chapters to lead. Thursday night Alex and I led the chapter 'Take a Date'.
The background for us and dating as a married couple, is that for many years I saw dating as an entertainment venue and not an investment in our marriage. I had felt that many times the money we spent for the evening could have go to much better things. When I changed my perspective, I began to really enjoy my outings with Alex.
Most of our dates occur on Saturday morning. We go out to breakfast together. We do other things too, but Saturday morning is our weekly scheduled date.
Last Saturday Alex took me to the County Landfill....You may laugh, but it was fun and sentimental for me. The landfill is only open from 8am to noon on Saturdays and we had a bunch of concrete in our back yard that needed to be hauled away. Alex did the first load without me and then I joined him for the second load. We threw the concrete into the back of the truck and drove the 13+ miles to the landfill. On our way we stopped for breakfast at The Coffee Cup. We had our usual good time of conversation and food. When we got to the landfill we unloaded all the concrete and joked about what a romantic date we were having. Alex had a camera in the car, so he snapped a picture of us and one of me on the tailgate of the truck viewing the lovely landfill. It was really quite fun.
Now why would going to the dump be sentimental? It's because my parents used to do the same thing. My mom would joke that dad was taking her on a romantic date to the dump. I don't know if they had breakfast before or afterwards, but I do know my sister and I were never invited...
Today we were back at our "regular place" The Court Street Diner. Breakfast was good, but not quite as much fun as last week. However, there's a bunch of tree branches in the back yard that need to be hauled away....
The background for us and dating as a married couple, is that for many years I saw dating as an entertainment venue and not an investment in our marriage. I had felt that many times the money we spent for the evening could have go to much better things. When I changed my perspective, I began to really enjoy my outings with Alex.
Most of our dates occur on Saturday morning. We go out to breakfast together. We do other things too, but Saturday morning is our weekly scheduled date.
Last Saturday Alex took me to the County Landfill....You may laugh, but it was fun and sentimental for me. The landfill is only open from 8am to noon on Saturdays and we had a bunch of concrete in our back yard that needed to be hauled away. Alex did the first load without me and then I joined him for the second load. We threw the concrete into the back of the truck and drove the 13+ miles to the landfill. On our way we stopped for breakfast at The Coffee Cup. We had our usual good time of conversation and food. When we got to the landfill we unloaded all the concrete and joked about what a romantic date we were having. Alex had a camera in the car, so he snapped a picture of us and one of me on the tailgate of the truck viewing the lovely landfill. It was really quite fun.
Now why would going to the dump be sentimental? It's because my parents used to do the same thing. My mom would joke that dad was taking her on a romantic date to the dump. I don't know if they had breakfast before or afterwards, but I do know my sister and I were never invited...
Today we were back at our "regular place" The Court Street Diner. Breakfast was good, but not quite as much fun as last week. However, there's a bunch of tree branches in the back yard that need to be hauled away....
Monday, April 19, 2010
So who am I? A little background....
I was born in Washington State and lived in the same house on the outskirts of Seattle from the age of 2 until I got married. It was a great neighborhood to grow up in. I knew every neighbor and there were lots of kids to hang out with. My dad still lives there...
I had friends that I started Kindergarten with and we graduated from high school together. Our little core group of Brookside friends joined up with some Horizon friends in advanced placement classes in middle school and we kept ourselves entertained with our own sense of humor. We were the geeks/nerds of the smart set.
Having spent my entire life in one state, I wanted to go AWAY to college. I spent my freshman year at a small Lutheran college in Minnesota, that unbeknownst to me, was the party school of all the regional Lutheran colleges. I learned how to party...and also learned that I didn't like being so far away. At the end of the year I transferred back to a Washington State school--CWU which was known in the state for its teaching program.
At CWU, even though I wasn't looking for love, Alex found me within the first few weeks and knew I was the one he was going to marry. (I didn't figure that out that he was the one for another year or so...) Alex told me he was going to be an officer in the Air Force. My reponse to that was "Cool! I'll see the world" (and that was one of God's jokes on me--we've never had an overseas tour) We got married in Sept 1987 just before Alex's first (and my second) senior year.
Twenty-two years, two kids, and ten moves later we're still together :-)
I had friends that I started Kindergarten with and we graduated from high school together. Our little core group of Brookside friends joined up with some Horizon friends in advanced placement classes in middle school and we kept ourselves entertained with our own sense of humor. We were the geeks/nerds of the smart set.
Having spent my entire life in one state, I wanted to go AWAY to college. I spent my freshman year at a small Lutheran college in Minnesota, that unbeknownst to me, was the party school of all the regional Lutheran colleges. I learned how to party...and also learned that I didn't like being so far away. At the end of the year I transferred back to a Washington State school--CWU which was known in the state for its teaching program.
At CWU, even though I wasn't looking for love, Alex found me within the first few weeks and knew I was the one he was going to marry. (I didn't figure that out that he was the one for another year or so...) Alex told me he was going to be an officer in the Air Force. My reponse to that was "Cool! I'll see the world" (and that was one of God's jokes on me--we've never had an overseas tour) We got married in Sept 1987 just before Alex's first (and my second) senior year.
Twenty-two years, two kids, and ten moves later we're still together :-)
The Half-way Point? in Life's Journey
So, I turned 45 two weeks ago....
A good friend from high school sent me a card and commented inside that 45 is half way between 20 and 70. This made me nostalgic, AND it's made me think more about life--the good stuff that's happened and what still lies ahead.
In our marriage small group last week, it was suggested that I needed to write the stories from my life so they could be shared with others. Why others would be interested? I don't know. But I feel the Spirit of God prompting me to do so...so I will.
My intent is to write about things that have made an impact on me in small and big ways. Stuff that might be interesting to my boys about how I grew up and what memories "pop into my head" years later. I also want to share those "God Moments" when I see His hand clearly working in my life. So this Blog will be a place for me to remember the days of my youth and chronical some of what is going on now....
A good friend from high school sent me a card and commented inside that 45 is half way between 20 and 70. This made me nostalgic, AND it's made me think more about life--the good stuff that's happened and what still lies ahead.
In our marriage small group last week, it was suggested that I needed to write the stories from my life so they could be shared with others. Why others would be interested? I don't know. But I feel the Spirit of God prompting me to do so...so I will.
My intent is to write about things that have made an impact on me in small and big ways. Stuff that might be interesting to my boys about how I grew up and what memories "pop into my head" years later. I also want to share those "God Moments" when I see His hand clearly working in my life. So this Blog will be a place for me to remember the days of my youth and chronical some of what is going on now....
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