Better than ever

My mother used to say that we have a choice in life when circumstances arise. We can either allow them to make us bitter, or make us better.

I thank God every day that he’s given me a husband who believes in making things better. Last weekend, that man and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary. Schedules and well, life, prevented us from celebrating on the exact day but it was just as special to celebrate nearly a week later.

Here we were on our wedding day

Here we were last weekend, just as happy-if not more so:

This year, instead of going out of town, we had a blissful time at our own little park. Our back and front yards are essentially a city park that is filled with trees, a creek and a walking trail. We got take-out sandwiches from a deli and enjoyed a beautiful Sunday afternoon in our park. Even our purrbabies got to join us, which made it extra special.

One of the many things I love about our relationship is our ability to reflect and discuss where we’re at in life and where we’re going. An anniversary is a perfect time to do this so we discussed how things were different our second year compared to the first and how we feel it affected the relationship.

The two biggest thing that happened to us this year would be big enough had they happened alone. I lost my job and then in April, I almost died. I’m currently still unemployed but I’m obviously alive and kicking!

We agree that while we were frugal with our money before I was laid off, going through a job loss taught us even stronger values about what’s important and what isn’t. We learned new ways to tighten our belts and to work together to manage our household in an efficient manner. This became even more important after I got sick and we had medical bills to contend with on top of other payments we were making.

Going through a sudden, life-threatening illness is never a good thing. But we are choosing to make it a situation where we grow as a couple instead of being torn apart. We agree the biggest lesson we learned there is to trust each other even more. I was forced to trust him and when he saw me in that situation of having to trust him, it led him to trust me even more. I’m so incredibly grateful for a man who was strong enough to withstand all that he did during that trying time. He had the weight of his wife’s illness plus the financial and household worries to manage all on his own.

With all the rough stuff that happened this year, it hasn’t all been bad. We did manage to take a short trip to the Branson area in August to see friends from an online group to which we both belong. We’ve also made the best of all opportunities we could to spend time together. Our Sundays are dedicated to spending time as a couple and we both really miss each other when circumstances cut into those times.

We’ve also expressed a desire to grow closer to God together and as an anniversary present to ourselves we purchased a devotional book geared towards couples.

As we look to year three, we don’t know what it will bring, largely because of my job situation.

But we do know we will be together and we have God and that’s all that matters.