Love, Marriage and the Baby Carriage

I met Drew on my 20th birthday.  Was I even 20?  I think so.

1.  Sometimes I wish I hadn’t gotten married so early.  I won’t lie.  I wish I’d seen Jerusalem or gone and done some exciting stuff.  But I didn’t, I got married.  Sometimes you just have to take opportunity when it comes.

2.  Our wedding was the longest and not one of my favorite days of my life.  We invited a TON of people, I am guessing like 800 invitations, or something like that?  My dad’s a pretty popular guy and it’s hard to invite just some people, and not others.  So, we took the big plunge.  I was SO tired by the time we got out to our seran wrapped car, sex was the last thing on my mind.  Blisters from my shoes, and the reception we had the next day (because we had to hurry back for band camp, ring a bell to anyone?) grated on me.  But, I did it, we got hooked.

3.  I didn’t love my first year of marriage either.  I had roommates that were my soulmates, and Drew had a hard time competing with that.  Plus, I had my psyche rotation, and I spent a lot of the time alone, and thinking I was going crazy in our tiny apartment.  Music sometimes came first, and I just had to learn that.  I still sometimes have to learn that.  It got better when I was out of school.  Having both of you in school is tough stuff.

4.  I loved my job at the pediatrician’s office.  I learned SO many things I never would’ve learned otherwise.  I am so grateful for that job.

5.  I hated my job at the nursing home.  I cried almost every day for the first few weeks.  It was a hard, awful job and I finally left it after I had Conner and my paychecks started bouncing.  I learned a lot about myself in this job though, and in retropect, it paid the bills.  Old people had never been my favorite though, and that taught me a love for the elderly, that I am pretty sure I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else.  I applied for countless jobs while I worked there.  Funny thing, I think I’ve gotten every single job I’ve ever interviewed for since then.  I guess I just needed the nursing home, or it needed me.

6.  I literally considered being a surrogate on my first pregnancy.  It was easy!  I mean, 12 hour shifts up til’ I was 38 weeks weren’t that great, but I’m grateful they let me do split shifts after that.  It was a perfect pregnancy though!

7. {these are obviously not in order — just a stream of consciousness} — I remember when I finally graduated from nursing school.  I just couldn’t  believe it was over.  It’s like running a marathon that you pretty well think has no end, and then it finishes and you still feel like you need to run, but you don’t.  It was honestly the best day of my life.  The. best. day.  I felt so proud and accomplished.  We went to Disneyland the next day, it was perfect.

8.  Having Conner was a huge eye opener.  I think, after working for the pediatrician for so long, I figured I’d be old hat at the baby thing.  Turns out I was entirely unprepared for what God had in store for me.  It was a huge refining fire.  You can read more about it on this post.  I was one of my first friends to have a baby and my support system was sadly lacking at that time.  All of the friends I did have at the time were out of town {waiving to Denise}.  Needless to say it wasn’t a happy time, and it was just something I got through.  Each baby got a little better, and really some of it got worse.  Having a baby is a life changer and you shouldn’t plan on it being anything else!

9.  Moving from family was hard.  I think when you grow up in Utah county you kind of think the world is full of evil and if you stay within the bubble you’ll be fine.  Turns out the bubble is also full of evil and I needed some horizon expanding.  It was a tough transition, but it’s what we needed.

Anyway, that pretty well wraps up the first 25 years of my life. 🙂  I figure you’ve gotta have a good 10 years before you can really “speak” to a period in your life. 

I’m excited for what’s to come.  We often get asked how long we think we’ll be here.  I just shrug my shoulders.  We will be where we are supposed to be.  And I wouldn’t have it any other way (but I’d really like to be here for the foreseeable future — in case anyone’s taking notes). 🙂