That picture was taken a few weeks after we were married. It was such a rush, being newlyweds: snuggling on Saturday mornings, sharing tubes of toothpaste, finding room for his giant scuba flippers and my crazy-big book collection in our 400-sq.-foot apartment, cooking dinner together, long conversations over lunch after church on Sunday afternoons, listening to his key in the lock every afternoon and thinking, "He's coming home to me..." Pure, lovely, happy bliss!
Fast-forward eighteen months: we've added a house, a photography business, and an incubating baby to the mix. Our apartment is long gone, and scuba flippers and books are shoved into storage, waiting for their new home in our yet-to-be-finished fixer-upper. Instead of coming home after work, Marty goes straight to the house for another night of wiring, or painting, or installing, and I bring him dinner on paper plates. I paint a wall, then run off for a quick photo shoot with a family down the block, then run back and paint some more. Instead of snuggling under the covers on Saturday mornings, we're up at the crack of dawn, ready to get a jump on the day's to-do list. I'm now on a first-name basis with our local hardware store manager {hi Jose!}.
And you know how most realtors give their clients a housewarming gift after closing? You know, a nice platter, or a vase, or something sweet like that. Yes. Well. Ahem. Ours {very thoughtfully} gave us a gift card to Home Depot. Oh, the irony.
Life is pure, turned-upside-down craziness. But it's still lovely.
The key is remembering why we're doing all of this in the first place. The renovating, the late nights, the early mornings, the paper-plate dinners, the knowledge that we're quite possibly single-handedly keeping Home Depot in business. We're doing this, because of us--because of family. Maybe, one day, life will slow down a bit, and we'll go back to cooking dinner and squabbling over where to fit those silly scuba flippers. Until then, we're working hard at being content in the here and now--construction, preggo belly, monster credit card bills, and all.
Have a lovely, love-filled weekend... {And stay under the covers a few more minutes longer tomorrow morning, just for me!}
Posts
1 comment:
Awww, I remember those days!
How neat to reflect on this time for you guys! :) I was under the covers for some extra time this morning ...glad to help you. :)
Today we are celebrating 6 years to the day of having signed our papers and got the keys to our house, starting our 2 weeks of initial painting, wallpaper striping, etc, and years later lots more stuff. It's been an adventure, but I'm still ever so thankful we did it. Keep building those memories and you won't regret it!
Post a Comment