15 Years, So Far

Today marks 15 years of marriage for Eric and I.  I know it sounds cliché, but it's hard to believe.  It's gone by in the blink of an eye (more clichés for you).  In 1998 I don't think we could have ever imagined what our lives would be like right now.  Here were some of our goals, hopes, expectations and realities:

• Have 4 kids, two by adoption and two biologically.
• I would be a well-respected music teacher in the early childhood world.
• Eric would be a well-respected programmer in the I.T. world.
• We thought it would be the bees knees and we would never have any financial worries if we could just make $70K per year.  (HA!)
• I had never used email or been on the internet before.
• Eric didn't yet have kidney issues and I didn't yet have Fibromyalgia.
• We swore we'd never drive a mini-van!
• We got horribly frustrated by partner tasks like putting together a "some assembly required" stereo cabinet.  [It does present some challenges when the person who knows how to do it can't see, and the person with no sense to do it is left with the sight work!]

Fifteen years later and...

• We have those four dreamed-of kids, but all through adoption.
• I taught public school music for two years before stopping to begin work as an adoption coordinator.
• Eric is, in fact, a well-respected programmer!
• Eric survived 3 years of dialysis and is now 3 years post kidney transplant.
• We drove a mini-van, and out grew it all the way to suburban-like vehicles!
• We stand amazed that we have traveled to Cambodia, Vietnam, Haiti, Ghana, and Togo when at the time of our marriage we had never traveled outside of the U.S. and really had no ambition to.
• The Lord has opened our hearts to the plight of the orphaned and the vulnerable.  It wasn't something we had really considered very much at the time of our marriage.
• We have successfully put together many "some assembly required" pieces of furniture.  We now have our own little construction language mostly figured out. =-)

Honestly, Eric and I have never been a couple to put much hoopla into our anniversary.  We totally forgot our first anniversary until it had passed a few weeks earlier!  Over the years we've forgotten others.  Sometimes we might go out to dinner.  Other times, not.  Our 5th anniversary was the only one where we really did something.  We went to Norman, OK and spent a night in a Bed and Breakfast there. [Ooh...ahhh!] 

 

We thought about doing something special this year, but when it comes down to it, our hearts weren't in it.  We're trying to fix up our house to possibly sell, or at least enjoy more!  So our parents will be taking the kids from Friday until Monday and Eric and I will practice our home-improvement skills!  We will be totally re-doing the girls bedroom and are actually really excited to see the looks on their faces when they get home!  New paint.  New furniture.  New bedding.  Wowsa!  Samren blessed us tonight by making us an anniversary dinner and dessert (mac&cheese w/ beef, and brownies!).

 

I don't know how much longer I will have my husband.  He's lived with Type 1 Diabetes for over 30 years now, and has had several severe complications.  In a way there is a blessing hidden in this.  There is no taking him for granted.  I know the time will come all too soon when he's not here.  I don't know if we will have 30, or 25, or even 20 years together.  So we will celebrate 15 years big in our hearts, even if only by doing home-improvements with our time!