Love Letters

Last night, after we put Ayden to bed, David and I got out our memory boxes. One of them is a box I covered with love related words clipped from magazines and pictures of us, the other is a huge shoe box. They are both filled to the brim with almost every card, letter, poem, mixed CD, and movie stub that we've accumulated over the years. We played one of the mix CDs and had a great time sifting through the memories.

Before text messaging...

Had our photos morphed into our future child at Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum in Gatlinburg, TN.
Does he look anything like Ayden??  Haha.  

There were a lot of dance pictures too from old proms, homecomings, etc.

My Jr. prom.

We enjoyed reminiscing and it got us talking about how our relationship has evolved over the years. Things we love about it, how it has changed (for better and for worse) and things we could work harder for. 

Here is the poem that started it all.  17 year old David picked a rose from his mom's rose garden, wrapped this poem around it and drove it over on a whim.  And now here we are today!  He's always known how to sweep me off my feet.

For how much we have been through just since Ayden's arrival, we have somehow been able to maintain a great level of closeness: Ayden's sleep troubles for the first year and newborn fussiness, moving and figuring out our next step, juggling parenthood and David's full time job, all while starting our farm adventure and still striving to be the parents and spouses we set out to be. We have had so many wonderful moments, as well as a lot of stressful ones, but we started strong and have remained strong. But remaining strong doesn't mean that we still put forth enough energy and effort to be as lovey dovey as the people we found in these boxes. We have both maintained a desire to keep one another as #1 and as long as that stays true we'll be able to keep the flame going, no matter what we encounter along the way. 

Reading all of the notes and poems that we wrote in high school reminded us that with just a little extra effort, it is possible to maintain the love bird status of high school sweethearts. Who says that, just because you are married with kids, you can't strive for that? We spent the day today sending sweet texts and calling just to hear the other's voice. It was fun and we could feel the positive energy that the extra effort kindled between us all through our evening together as well. We decided to set aside Monday nights to put household to do's on hold, turn off our computers and phones and just focus on each other.  Playing a game, giving each other massages or even just simply hanging out and talking like best friends do.  Uninterrupted, 100% focused, and growing even closer all the time.

As parents, we wear a lot of hats. I am myself, a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a pet owner, a beekeeper, a homemaker, a dance teacher, etc, etc. During different seasons of our lives some hats may be bigger than others but for me, those first three are the most crucial and it is important to find and maintain a proper balance between them all. I think the best thing to do may be to sit down at the end of your day and reflect on all of your relationships. Ask yourself, "Was I true to myself today?  Was I the mother I wanted to be?  The wife I wanted to be?  Are there any changes I'd like to make for tomorrow?" Then just take it one day at a time. Do your best, show yourself some grace and remember, tomorrow is always a new day. 

Do you and your sweetie have a memory box?  How often do you go through it together?  

~Sarah

Flashback!  Here's what we were up to one year ago today: "Beware of Baby Trainers"

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