Est 1995
This day in 1995 was the beginning of a fairytale adventure. Like a lot of little girls, I daydreamed of when I would get married. I thought I had to “figure it out” before I truly needed to figure it out. I had a mental checklist in my head of my requirements in order for someone to be my husband. And I even remember starting to pray for my future husband when I was around 6 or 7 years old. Yeah, it was that big of a deal to me.
Now, as I grew older I learned how to live in the day and not only in all those daydreams. There were plenty of goals and dreams in that young head of mine. And those were great to have then and they are still great to have now. But if I could go back to my younger self and give her words of advise here’s what I would say:
“Don’t worry, you’ll figure it out.”
And I did figure it out. But it wasn’t from trying to figure it out. It was from living in the moment and figuring it out as I went.
One summer day in 1992 while still in high school I saw the young man of my daydreams. There was a family that had moved to town and they had been having their home remodeled and were finally moving in. The contractor for the remodel went to our church and he mentioned needing volunteers to help with the clean up for a remodel job he was finishing up with. Well, my mom and I were no strangers to cleaning. I would help my mom clean houses during the holidays and any day I didn’t have to go to school. So off we went to do some cleaning at this newly remodeled home. My job was scraping windows. So I would scrape every one of those extra large picture windows until I knew it was clean as a whistle. I was working on a bedroom window when I heard someone coming toward the room. I thought it was someone from the construction crew or maybe my mom but it wasn’t. As I turned from the big picture window to look at the door, it was a young man wearing a football jersey. He walked just inside the bedroom, set down his football bag and walked right out. Not a word was spoken. But I had an instant crush. I remember thinking “What the heck! I’m in this guys bedroom! OMG I’m so embarrassed!” I had never seen him before and assumed I’d never see him again. But I was wrong;)
I saw him at school when it started back for the fall. He ended up asking me out. And we have been best friends ever since our first date in November 1992.
After he graduated high school he joined the Army. When he left for basic training, I thought for sure this time I’d never see him again. But I was wrong again. He had a very short Christmas break in the middle of his basic training. He came back home during that break and asked if I’d marry him, I said yes, and he went right back to basic training. But this time I knew I’d see him again.
All those daydreams rushed back to my mind on the day we were married. And believe it or not, I didn’t care about the details anymore. I cared about having a nice dress, a nice cake, and really I just wanted to get married. The rest didn’t matter so much.
Things were going just fine during the ceremony. It came the time and my husband said his vows. I’m smiling along. Then it felt like the whole world looked at me and I realized it was my turn. In my mind I had a freak out moment. “Wait! What? OMG, I have to speak out loud?!!! Can’t I just sign my name on a paper or something?!” I had completely forgotten that I had to actually speak…in front of everyone….But I figured it out:)
We’ve had many years figuring out this life we have together. And we’ll have many more to come.
It’s not a fairytale without the adventure.
Happy fairytale adventuring to you too:)