Seven Years

Seven years ago yesterday Joel and I started dating. And somehow in my half-awake sleep that morning I remembered to tell him happy anniversary. Usually he wins, but yesterday morning a miracle happened. Until I was shown up when he brought me roses during lunch. Unfortunately, I had meeting tonight and didn’t get home until late, but when I walked in the garage I could smell something delicious. He was pouring red wine and had cooked shrimp & grits and roasted brussel sprouts. This is especially amazing since I can’t ever eat shrimp & grits because of the heavy dairy…but because my husband must love me a lot he made it from scratch without. I’m the luckiest woman on the face of this earth, and I know it. It’s just a good thing that seven years ago I told him I liked him, or he may have never worked up the nerve to ask me out! Though we “dated” each other’s friends in middle school, neither of us dated during high school.I had a rough time being a girl who no one ever like or ever got asked our or told she was pretty. After a year of anger and resentment somehow I found the strength to pray for patience to wait for the right guy. And after a few years (God’s timing is SO different from ours) Joel and I finally realized that our blessed friendship was meant to be a blessed relationship. We count ourselves truly lucky to have known since junior year who we would marry, to be with only that person, to know we married our best friend. And we know we’ll make it in the long haul, because this week we put lights on the Christmas tree together and neither one of us was found dead the next morning by the cops.

The Wedding Weekend

Thursday night after work Joel and I headed across the state to visit the McCullens. Sadly, we didn’t get to visit much while we were there, as we were gone during the afternoon and night, Uncle Bob was out of the country until Saturday night, and school beckoned the remainder of the family during the day. Friday we headed to the church to meet Daniel, and we headed to a very late lunch with him and his friend Wes to enjoy his last few unmarried hours. Back at the church, we met more friends and family, and a couple of us not in the wedding visited during the rehearsal. The BBQ at the rehearsal dinner was tasty, but not as tasty as Eastern NC style, and it never will be. Afterwards the “young” people headed out to visit. It was great to catch up with Joel’s college friends and meet a few new ones too. The original plan was Dave & Buster’s, but Jimmie Johnson had rented the whole place out, so we settled on Quaker. Saturday morning we got to visit with Aunt Chris & Alexa, while Matthew was taking the SAT. ECU was playing the conference championship game, so Joel called out the score to me while I was in the shower, and amazingly we got Pirate Radio in the car on the way to the church. Joel, being a groomsman, was stuck in the basement with nothing but Gametracker, and out taking photos. Luckily it wasn’t too cold, so I stayed in the car and put my makeup on while being serenaded by the Pirate win. The wedding was beautiful, and the bride and groom just glowed with joy. The reception was lots of fun, as the DJ was clean but funny and sentimental, and tons of people got up to dance. Joel and I got back to the house exhausted, only to find the whole family awake, so we sat around and visited until I started falling asleep in a fluffy pink chair. I’ll let you guess whos room that was in. You’re probably wrong. Sunday I was half dead from exhaustion and somehow slept through the family heading off to church, which I’ll have to make up for next time we see them by making circus waffles. Joel and I got back on the road home, the end of yet another road trip.

Preacher Man

Joel preaches every fifth Sunday, so November 30 we filled an entire pew with family (and Kelly Taylor!). The message was “He is the potter, we are the clay.” I won’t even try to summarize, because it will be a pathetic interpretation that doesn’t do him justice. Centenary is blessed to have him, and I don’t just say that because he’s my husband. After church, we headed to lunch and then over to Grandma’s to visit. Cole kept everyone laughing, between chasing Grandma across the floor to hugging Santa. In the other corner, Bekgah and Joel and I wrestled the tree into place. I do mean, wrestled.

Thanksgiving at the Farm

Since my mom had been in Louisiana tending to Papaw, Joel and I headed to Mama Connie’s to visit. Joel kept her company while I climbed in the attic to fetch out Mr. and Mrs. Claus to take their respective seasonal position in the front chaise. Joel has never seen Good Morning, Vietnam, so we stuck that in the VCR to wind down for the night…but we got TOO sleepy and didn’t finish. Next time. I’m starting to believe that the guest room upstairs has a time trap that keeps people asleep twice as long as they mean to. Every time someone sleeps in that thing, it’s into the double digits before they wake up. Be warned. While we waited for Mom to get back from the airport, Mama Connie and I mixed up a huge batch of her Party Mix. I didn’t take a picture before we ate it. Sorry. Come visit me and you can eat some instead of looking at it.

Black Friday

We learned Friday morning that Mom Mom would need surgery on her neck after a nasty fall, so much time was spent praying and debating travel plans. We packed up the leftovers and headed over to Charlie & Jaimee’s to visit before Bill headed up north. I’m happy to say that she’s recovering well, though slowly. Since plans were a bit skewed, we stayed home and watched the Pirates play their best game all season (in MY opinion). Though we couldn’t be there in person to cheer them on, we got to visit with everyone. Cole was crawling all over the place! Though everyone else in the room doubted us, Jaimee and I even got their tree up and lit without a fistfight. Who says trimming the tree has to be stressful?

Thanksgiving with the "In-Laws"

Somehow I ended up as the Safety Officer for our department at work, which leaves me in charge of conducting a monthly safety meeting. After our last one, I made everyone go around the table and say something they were thankful for. I got responses ranging from “my job” to “my family” to “God.” I closed, being thankful that I could look forward to enjoying Thanksgiving with my in-laws. Few people are that lucky. Joel stayed at home baking stuffin’ muffins (Tasty. Very Tasty.) and pumpkin bread while I worked on Wednesday. After work, we hopped in the car and headed north to his parent’s house. We had put on pajamas and were reading on the couch and visiting when the phone rang to announce that Chris and Carrie had gotten engaged! Though we knew it was coming eventually, we were so excited we had to pull ourselves together and put pants back on to head out and celebrate. Since the first night we met her, we knew they’d get married. After a good night’s sleep, we arose and attempted to help in the preparations, but there was little left to do, so we visited with family. Grandma and the Reeds came up, as well as Jesse who we adopted as family for the day. The meal was delicious, but the company is always better. The men folk tossed the football around, and the women complimented the Barbie tree and played Beatles Monopoly.

TSO

Joel has always wanted to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra live, but they’ve never been close enough. This year, they made it to Raleigh on November 22, so that made an easy Christmas present for my husband. He was super excited, and we counted down the days till the concert. Luckily we left in enough time to stop and get cash, because parking at the RBS center was $10. Now, can anyone explain to me why I should have to pay another $10 to see a $100.00 show? Why wasn’t this included in the ticket price, or at least written on the ticket? What about those unlucky people who didn’t happen to look on the website and see the cash only fee? Oh well. It was worth it. Once inside, we opted against the $10 longnecks and made our way down to our (excellent) seats. The concert was great, with a light show and music throughout. Joel was like a kid in a candy shop, and while I also enjoyed it, I was enjoying the show through the filters of my sunglasses and earplugs. Go ahead and laugh out loud. It started off the Christmas season for us, and though we try not to think about it until after Thanksgiving, we found ourselves singing Christmas songs on the car ride home.