September has been a month of happiness for me. In early September, my husband and I celebrated our 30th Wedding Anniversary. The theme of our wedding was Marrying My Best Friend. I believe our marriage has been an investment in building something solid and lasting. Humor plays a big part in our relationship; we love making each other laugh. In the most challenging moments of our marriage, we tried to find the silver lining through our faith in each other and the humor. We try to be each other’s cheerleaders and support system when things don’t quite go our way. We can do the most amazing things as long as we have each other.
We started just the two of us and then made a family, a challenge we had to face together. There was heartache and tears in starting our family. We had many losses before we succeeded in carrying a pregnancy to term. To say each of our four Princesses was desperately wanted is an understatement. Having all four of our children within five years was the best way to start our adventure in parenting.
We worked opposite shifts when they were little, which worked for us. Someone was always home with the girls during the week, and their Grammy and Poppy would come on the Sundays we both had to work. Hubby was in retail, and I worked at the hospital. Not seeing each other also made our time together memorable and the hours spent as a whole family were that much more special. In those early years, my hubby’s motto was “I made it through the day without an injury.” He’d call it a win.
On our 30th Anniversary, we took a family vacation for the first time with a son-in-law, boyfriends, and a best friend who has always been a fifth daughter to us. Having everyone under one roof was the perfect gift. Our children are all in their twenties now and can remember more of their childhoods than we do. Laughter filled the rooms as we played games and went down memory lane.
Our greatest gift is how much they support each other and love being together. We packed a lot into one weekend. We are blessed and would not change one bit over the last 30 years. We are still best friends, committed to loving, respecting, and having faith in each other. Here is to a lifetime to go.
