Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

disney movies

Why I celebrate marriage

Today is my parents’ wedding anniversary.

35 years

35 years. And I forgot to send a card.

Good thing I’m a writer and I can blog instead.

Also, I’m really picky about cards (see previous statement about being a writer) and I’m not sure I could find one to say what I want to say.

My parents being married for 35 years is a big deal. The kind of big deal I haven’t fully appreciated until being married myself.

Not only did they defy some serious odds. They were teenagers and expecting a baby (details I share with you only because in a few months when I turn 35, you’d put the pieces together) and THEY ARE STILL MARRIED.

I celebrate this every. single. day. Because I believe they are an exception to an all-too-common rule. (Tell me about other exceptions you know because I love a good love story.)

I don’t know all the ways they’ve struggled, but I know marriage is a struggle.

And they’ve stuck it out.

I don’t know all the ways they’ve changed, but I know marriage changes people.

And they’re still together.

I don’t know all the highlights of their married life, but I know marriage produces great joy.

And their marriage inspires me.

In world where love stories are often reduced to songs.

romeo and juliet(I’m not hating, Taylor Swift, but you’ve got to admit, we have a point.)

Or feelings, or fairy tales, real marriages with all their pain and trials and commitment and sacrifice give me hope.

This gem from Pinterest says it well.

 

My parents have been married for 35 years, and that is worth celebrating.

But so is EVERY marriage that makes it another year, another month, another day.

Because marriage is hard. And two people living life together day in, day out, is a recipe for disappointment and discouragement and disillusionment.

But it’s also a recipe for redemption and grace and selflessness.

I am not the same person I was 6 years ago before I married my husband. And I won’t be the same person in 6 years that I am now.

All that to wish my parents a happy anniversary.

And to say to all my married readers, “Congratulations!”

Marriage is worth celebrating.

Every. Single. Day.

 

Saturday smiles: Uh, what day is it again? edition

I know it’s Sunday now, but I spent most of the week plagued by sickness of seemingly every common kind. Needless to say, the week was kind of a blur. I didn’t eat much of anything for three days. (Apparently that’s my new weight loss plan because I lost 3.5 pounds this week!) A lingering hacking cough has me wondering if I should leave the house for church this morning. (I promise to cover my mouth and take cough medicine!)

So smiles this week? Let me jog my memory. (Think The Princess Bride when Fezzik jogs the albino’s memory. “I didn’t mean to jog him so hard.”)

Maybe the biggest smilemaker this week was learning that I was one of 10 winners in the adult age group of the Lebanon County Library System’s annual poetry contest. Yes, you read that right. I have to read it again from time to time, too. I’m not sure I’ve ever entered a poetry contest before or what compelled me to enter this one. The prize is winning and having my poem published with the other winners in a book the library is putting together. I can also attend a poetry reading of the winning poems in May. Totally crazy but a bright spot in my week.

Isabelle watched Mary Poppins for the first time and gave it four thumbs up. We’re working our way through Disney movies after visiting the world of Disney. Next up, at her request, is The Jungle Book. I love her passion for stories, in book or movie form.

Breakfast with friends and watching the kids take over the Chick-Fil-A play area because they were the only ones in there. They actually played together pretty well, which seems rarer and rarer.

Outside time. I’m learning that the more space in which my children have to play, the less likely they are to get on each other’s nerves and fight. Hooray for nice weather the past couple of days and in the days to come!

Corban and I read a 100 words picture book one night when his sister had gone to bed early. I would point to a picture and say, “Corban, what is that?” He would reply, almost every time, with, “Um, I’m not sure. It’s a frog, actually.” So hilarious.

Not hilarious is the fact that I’m sure this boy is going to land us in the emergency room for the first time. Because of him, I’m needing to acquire the skill of getting blood out of clothing (he plays hard) and yesterday I learned that the little flap of skin that connects your mouth to your gums is called a frenulum.  I know this now because he tore his after he hit his head on something in the living room. I freaked out. Phil googled it to convince me we didn’t need to go to the ER. He seems to be healing just fine, though when I ask him how his lips are, he says, “Not good yet.” That didn’t stop him from eating everything on his plate for supper last night plus an extra helping of frozen yogurt. Some things only sons can teach you, I guess.

I wish I had some pictures from this week, but it was not a very picture-worthy week. (Actually, I have a few but I’m too lazy to share them this morning.)

Keep smiling!