Tag Archives: anniversary

Our 10th Anniversary

I still remember so clearly, right after we got engaged, being asked when we thought our wedding would be. Without hesitation I said January. It wasn’t that I dreamed of getting married in January, it was purely practical… with my husband-to-be a touring musician, I knew January was the one month that my odds of having him home was greatest. He wouldn’t have to sub-out his gig to get married, and we’d probably actually get to spend anniversaries together.

It worked up to, ironically, today: our 10th Wedding Anniversary.

We got just a little winter precipitation, so I marked the occasion in the white, soft snow.

The week leading up to our wedding, the artist he was playing for had rehearsals. It was one of maybe five times in the last 10 years that I stomped my foot and refused to “compromise.” My groom would be in Texas with me… they had a year notice about our wedding and they could just figure it out. (And they did, and it was fine.)

Our second anniversary, my husband left that afternoon on the road. But he was home for the first half of the day, and we celebrated then.

Otherwise, our anniversaries have been everything from trips, to fancy dinners, to a quiet night at home, to a night out with friends. All of them together.

I took the photo for this year a few days ago while we were out so I could play with a camera I had rented for the holidays. We’ll take a second photo after he gets off the road and we celebrate the special milestone in our marriage.

My husband was so surprised when I encouraged him to take a drive that took him away from home on our anniversary, though.  This is a big one! Why would we be  apart on it?

It’s just our life. Bills still need to be paid, and our life happens to be one that requires us to be apart to “make ends meet.” We’ve missed plenty of holidays (with the exception for Christmas and New Years Eve… see that whole moments-of-not-compromising thing) and birthdays. We’ve never gone to a wedding together. We do what we have to do to take care of each other.

And isn’t that what we said in our vows on that warm January afternoon 10 years ago? We vowed to take care of each other. To love each other. In sickness and in health. For richer or poorer. We do what we have to do to take care of each other… and that often means being apart on special events.

Photo by AJW Photo

The most special event, however, was definitely the event 10 years ago, when we said, “I do.” Since then, life has been an adventure. As I look back over the last decade, I focus on the good stuff and learn from the… not so good. We’ve had our struggles, but they’ve made us stronger and taught us more about ourselves, each other and life itself.

I know I couldn’t ask for a better partner with which to navigate life. And as we continue to build our life together, we will continue to be stronger and fall more and more in love every day, every year, every failure and every success. Because we are a team… and we are always stronger together. Even if it means having to be apart now and then.

Christmas 2016

I love you, Craig. You are my world, my rock, and love. Happy Anniversary! Here’s to many, many more years ahead. Hurry home…

So what about you…?

It’s been a month since I last blogged… a busy month. I chatted with my brother on the phone last night and he asked what I’ve been up to since Christmas and I was a bit stumped on how to respond. What HAVE I been up to in the last month?

Well, first off, Christmas was wonderful. I love my family, and it never seems like enough time together when we all see each other. ESPECIALLY when its a rare time that my husband is off the road and can be there.

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It was a warm Christmas down in Texas! Dig my red socks there? Yeahhhh… In a similar vein, this happened before Christmas:

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Santa remembered us. See? He IS real.

Anyway, after Christmas it was time to focus on all the Music City Bowl events in Nashville. I’m still planning to do a whole blog post JUST on this, but let me just say that even though A&M lost the game, I feel like I won so much through the experience. I didn’t know it was possible to love my University any more than I already did, but I totally do after all that I got to do with it in 2015.

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I then rang in the new year with friends… with a special highlight of it my oldest friend — besties since around Kindergarten — was in Nashville with me for the game and to celebrate New Years. First time in about 30 years of friendship for that to happen! And on top of that, it was 14th time my husband and I rang in a new year together.

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My first task of 2016 was to stand up for myself… and it felt really good.

I do some light web design work for a few people. It’s not something I promote much, mostly because its just… I’m not keeping up with all the new stuff in web design enough to feel confident in calling myself a web designer. But, if you ask me to do it, I’ll do it and I’ll give it my all. On top of that, a by-product of my journalism degree, I guess, I never miss a deadline set by someone else. (I miss my personal deadlines all the time, LOL, but if you ask me to do a job by x-day, it might be completed in the 11th hour, but it WILL be done by deadline.)

Well, I won’t go into any details, but I ultimately quit a client over what I am considering a personality conflict. I don’t handle being micromanaged very well, I suppose. I got the job done, though, and I walked away. And I haven’t second guessed that decision once. Proud of myself, actually, for standing up for myself.

The deadline of this project was actually the same day at my wedding anniversary. 9 years, y’all!  NINE!

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We celebrated using a gift card we got for Christmas from a friend. Dinner at Jimmy Kelly’s Steakhouse in Nashville is definitely outside of my comfort zone, but that chilean sea bass was worth it. That, and getting our waiter to relax a bit and chat with us after we told him he could be twins with another friend of ours.

After dinner we met up with a couple we haven’t gotten to hang out with in a long time… in a nice smokey dive bar. Back in our comfort zone. LOL!

Since these back-to-back-to-back-to-back things… I went through a brief phase of being lost. I suddenly didn’t have something demanding my attention RIGHT THIS SECOND and I didn’t know what to do with myself. So I found myself obsessing over bills and the fact that January is ALWAYS a lean month for us.

But, I found my stride after awhile, and my focus has definitely turned to our future. The business plan is pretty much done for the bar we are planning to open. We should get it in the hands of investors next week.

My husband has been driving Lyft while the bus driving is at a stand still.

If you’ve never tried Lyft (or Uber), its a rideshare service. Think of it as a taxi, only cheaper and you’re riding in someone’s personal vehicle. Creepy? Not at all. All drivers undergo a rigorous background check before they are approved to be part of the Lyft service. They also have to keep a higher level of care for their vehicles. No junkie clunkers allowed! AND riders and drivers rate each other after each ride. If either the driver OR the passengers ends up with too many low scores, they’re kicked out of the system entirely.

I set up a Lyft code through my husband’s account for the Music City Bowl that is still good to use. So if you want to test it out, use the code MUSICCITYAGGIES for a discount on your first ride!

My husband went on his first bus drive of the year this week, though. It felt really good to be back surrounded by tour buses for awhile when I tagged along for the pre-trip of the bus. It really felt like suddenly the year was back on track. Things were back to normal.

Normality to me includes tour buses. Go figure.

So that is what has been up with me since I last blogged. Finding my normal again will help me keep better on track. I think…