15 Years Later

I looked through our pics and can't find any of just me and Pete...without at least 1 kid in the picture with us. This is one I took on our way home from Quebec last summer:-)

Anyhow, 15 years yesterday. I think it is an amazing milestone for anyone to reach now a days...but for us, I think we have beat a lot of odds.

We have buried a child and we are still together, we now have a special needs child and we are still together...that alone is huge. We have chosen to take those situations to make our lives together stronger and to figure out exactly who we are and what we are made of:-)

We have our moments, we are real people. We fight, argue, disagree and go to bed angry sometimes, but our relationship is something that we have decided is important enough to work through:-)

We make the choice to spend time together, without kids. Even if it is at 10:30 at night and it means we won't be home until midnight...it is worth it.

So many people base their relationships on the kids. One day those kids will be gone. We are actively training our kids and preparing them to go. Not because we don't love them, but BECAUSE we love them.

We want them to be helpful and functional in society. We also want OUR marriage to stand strong through that shift in our life. So, we do go out, we enjoy our time together as a couple, even if it is just going out for errands together and leaving the kids at home (built in babysitters are great!)

We are looking forward to having a week away, who knows where, in September...no kids!! We have never been able to do that in our marriage yet...so that will be exciting!! I look forward to building more of our relationship up, without being focussed on the kids.

I want to encourage everyone out there to (are you ready for this?) (brace yourself!!) put your marriage in front of your kids***(see side note:-)...they will learn more from seeing how mom and dad relate to each other...

***this does not mean that you ignore your kids...but you actively take more time for you and your spouse...without the guilt that may pop up about leaving the kids out:-)

15 years...how cool is that??? (and I remember being told that we wouldn't last because we were getting married because I was pregnant...to whomever said that...in your face...ok, that was a joke...but really - How cool is that!!)