32 Years This Week

This was Steve and I during our Marriage Encounter weekend, which included a series of classes we had to attend along with counseling sessions.  This was a requirement for the ceremony to take place in the church we had chosen.  Given that I was 20 and he was 23, it probably did not hurt to get some guidance.  We were babies, without a clue as to what we were doing.

Yes, this is a Polaroid picture.  That’s how long we have been married.  And since this week we are celebrating 32 years, I thought I would take a little trip down memory lane.

Another indication of how long ago it was…blue eye shadow and big hair.  No snickering, please.

We sure don’t look like that anymore!

…because they let us do the deed.  Surrounded by family and friends, we tied the knot.

It was August 4, 1984.  It was Kansas.  It was hot and humid.  I have very curly hair that frizzes in heat and humidity.  I shut my mind to the potential for coiffure disasters and just embraced the day.

There’s that blue eye shadow again.  I was nothing if not trendy.

I don’t remember a lot about the ceremony.  It seemed to go by so fast.  I do remember that, as we walked back up the aisle after the ceremony, I shed tears of joy.  Otherwise, I was a bundle of nerves and don’t remember much else until the reception.

Outdated glasses aside, he was the cutest catch.

I got him!  There’s no escaping me now, buddy!

This was the photographer’s idea and I’m so happy he suggested it.  I love this picture.  It’s also a thick, glossy reminder of Steve’s now non-existent hair.

It’s been gone for a while now, his hair, that is.  I really don’t miss it.  Not that he wasn’t a cutie with it.  But he’s just as handsome without it.

Steve graduates from college, gets one job, then gets another job that required we relocate to Arizona.  At that time, I had already attended 3 colleges and universities in Kansas, and still had a couple of years to graduate.  Two more schools in Arizona later, I was working full time and we were building our first home.  We’ve been in the South/Southwest ever since.

Steve’s career would move us 10 years later from our second home in Arizona to Texas.    And there were moves after that.  We are in home number 6 as I write this.  I’m pretty good at coordinating home sales, home purchases, the packing up and moving of things and lives.  It is an acquired skill that was necessary for our mental health.

I wouldn’t trade a single day of it.

…was in that first home.  I believe we moved in the Spring on 1989 and I delivered Matt in the late summer of 1990.  Daddy’s mini-me.

This child was a non-stop bruiser.  He kept us on our toes.

I think many in our family had decided we were never going to have kids, we waited so long.  But the wait was well worth it.    We both believe our boys are our greatest achievement.

…just three months before our 10th anniversary.

Again, I think the family had become convinced that Matt was going to be an only child.

Sam was a thumb sucker and a very sweet and loving child.  He was also a very skilled little emotional mercenary.  I remember this exchange:  “Sammy, did momma not tell you that you shouldn’t do that?”  To which he promptly removed his thumb from his mouth with a little plop sound, and responded:  “Momma, I love you.  I need you to hold me.”

Yeah, that happened.

Then the years went by, and all kinds of life happened, and we were back in Arizona, and suddenly our baby first born is a college graduate.  How did that happen?

He took a bit of a scenic route.  I’m not sure he actually believed that day was ever going to happen for him.  But it did.  He stuck with it and finished very well, thank you very much.

I was little bit weepy that day.  Can you blame me?

And just this May, this happened.  The baby finished up too.  I got weepy again.

I think he didn’t believe it was real until he got the actual degree certificate in the mail a few weeks later.  He had an almost giddy look of relief on his face when he opened up the cardboard mailer it came in.  Goofy boy.

And this is where we are today.

Can you believe it has been 32 years, Steve?  We’ve come such a long way from the two very young people who took the leap of faith into love and marriage, probably way sooner than many thought we should.  It’s been an incredible journey, and I’m so thankful we embarked on it.  Thank you for all the love and memories.  Happy 32nd, babe.  I wish us many, many more anniversaries to come.