one year wed

our one year wedding anniversary was exactly twenty-two days ago. and i haven't reflected back on those 365 married days yet, so this, my friends, is an attempt to do so.

i'll only share some of our marital mountain highs and valley lows, because a lot happens in a whole year and sometimes you just can't bring yourself to write about every precious love-growing moment.

right after saying i do to the best and most handsome man on earth on november second twenty-thirteen we had a perfect-for-us kind of honeymoon: low key, mountain views, good food, books and geeky things. afterwards we loaded up my car back at my parents place, said goodbye, and then i finally moved across the state into our very first little apartment with my husband. i must say that it's truly amazing living with your best friend, getting to see them every single day, and not worrying about being nearly five hours away for once. november also saw me tackling a brand new job just before thanksgiving/black friday/christmas hit - which in essence was crazy, thankfully though i had previously worked a similar job and was able to jump right in unscathed.

around this same time i had my first "wife scare" when i couldn't get a hold of my husband via his cell, and he was almost two hours late getting home from work - turns out my DH's phone had died, it had started snowing and his car battery had died at work which meant someone had to give his car a jump and he had to make it to the station to get it fixed pronto. i may have cried a tiny bit, then he got home. we took a deep breath and then we both laughed because we just knew it would make a great "once upon a time" story for our future children some day down the line.

at the end of november, just before thanksgiving we found a water leak and a ton of black mold in our apartment. the mold battle has been an on again off again battle throughout our entire first year of marriage. honestly? i'm thankful for our first apartment together; our very first home; though i will be happy when we can move to a newer place that has no mold and less leaks and problems. we've definitely been schooled in mold removal and learning how to count our blessings in the midst of not-so-fun circumstances.

due to working retail i worked throughout most of the usual family get together times for my family last year, but i was able to make it to my husband's family thanksgiving, christmas and christmas eve celebrations. it was such a wonderful feeling, this being immensely loved by my new family, even though i was terribly homesick. my favorite christmas memory was of Jared's cousin and his pappaw playing the guitar and harmonica while we sang along with one another on christmas eve - 'twas magical and felt like a huge warm welcome hug that enveloped everyone in the room. another favorite memory goes to watching my father-in-love taking a hat and wearing it a dozen goofy ways on christmas day; we also laughed our way through Cast Away and Forrest Gump. we surely laughed a lot this past christmas, and i hope we all do so again this year, despite being apart.

jumping over to the new year . . . in january twenty-fourteen brave-heart showed it's fearless face and declared itself my One Word. i also learned how to let my Jesus and my husband hold me in an even more intimate holy way than ever before. 

we also saw snow three times in our first year of marriage. i got caught out driving in the nasty stuff twice. and you should know that no one in the south is ever prepared for the stuff. it's no fun, even though i do know how to scrape out my car from ice and snow and drive in the beautiful yet terrible stuff like a champ now.

come march i found holiness in basil and sloppy word tripping.

in april i learned how to bravely weep. and yes, i managed to cry an ocean full of tears my first year of marriage. sorry, not sorry. we also celebrated my hunk of a husband's twenty-fourth birthday by taking a trip to the zoo. i love that my husband is happy with only just a day trip to the zoo.

may had me surprised by a dear-heart friend on my twenty-fifth birthday, and celebrating the one year of our engagement, plus six months of marriage alongside mother's day with my momma. i also found my heart and lungs reeling, wandering and wondering, as i entertained every thought of beginnings and endings and the what-after-thats. 

june found me trying my utmost to bloom where i have been planted for this first-year season of marriage. i traveled down to little town south to celebrate my best friend's college grad and twenty-second birthday party. we also went on a family beach trip during this month - the place we stayed at was amazing, plus we made some awesome memories with my new family.

july i was reading, a ton, hence the silence. this was the month the husband and i also had to clear out our savings account due to vehicle repairs . . . golly gee wiz whatever blech . . . we're just so thankful that the Lord kept on providing for us throughout the next few months, the whole year, really.

in august i celebrated five years of blogging.  and started my business up full force with doTERRA essential oils.

september was, again, quite the quiet month for us.

october came and went by with only so much as a whisper to be heard on the blog. but the epic part about october was that the stair-step writerly sisterhood joined forces for their second IRL meeting. we had a wonderful time, even if a nasty glutening hit me hard and almost made me consider an ER visit. i loved making memories with rachelle and meghan.


and now here we are. finally at the threshold of our first year of marriage closing as we enter into our second year of marriage. though nothing really ever closes, does it? life just keeps on blooming, opening like rose petal after rose petal until more beauty and thorns are relinquished for viewing pleasure.

how did we spend our anniversary? well, to be completely frank most of it, for myself, was spent in the bathroom and on the couch (no i am not pregnant) due to my digestive system and body fighting itself after the dastardly glutening of twenty-fourteen. my husband was so amazing. he was patient with me, took care of me, wasn't upset at changed plans - in the end we just spent time with my family (and his grandparents) up in the mountains while they all loved on me through every pain and sleepless night i endured. now that is true love lived out.

marriage most certainly has its ups and downs. it is hard and amazing and it comes with terrible unforeseen circumstances and showers of unforeseen thirst-quenching blessings. i'm so happy with the man i chose to marry, mostly because he is not afraid to grasp this woman's hand tightly and to walk onward through every mountain high and valley low we face in life and in our marriage together.

i love him and our life together so much it hurts.

i know that life is about to get crazy for us, as we were both just informed today that my husband will be losing his job soon.

so. prayers for us as we step bravely into our second year of marriage, dear-heart's?

all is love and grace and blessings and trials, but the greatest of these is becoming enveloped in the ever-abounding depths of His greater love for us.

peace and love unto you.

signed sincerely, the mr. and the mrs.



2 comments:

  1. Such a sweet summary of your first year of marriage, I will always look up to you. Praying for you and your husband! Where God closes a door, He certainly opens another (even if He has to open it straight from heaven).

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  2. You and your man inspire me, no matter the mountain high or valley low. So blessed to have gotten to watch and adventure through some of this with you this past year (*I* will never forget your first panicked "wife scare"), to have surprised you on your birthday, and to have you there on mine.

    Love you!

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