undoing discontentment

I had my 30th wedding anniversary back on July 19!  

I know, Whoa, right?  I can hardly believe it myself!

Yes, we were just babies in 1985.

There have been times, over the years, that it wouldn't have taken much for either of us to just walk away.  It's been hard at times.  There have also been amazing, awesome, wonderful times, of course.  But those storms when it seems there's no chance of escaping in one piece can shake you to the core.

But God...  If not for having Him in our lives and in our marriage, we surely would not have made it for thirty years.  Of course, we can do nothing on our own, but we like to think we can.  We so easily forget that it's only by the will of God that we even breathe let alone move, think, walk and talk.

I'm so thankful that He intervened so many times in our marriage.  I have always felt really glad that both Hubby and I had intact families (neither of our parental units have divorced) and have two examples of half-century marriages to look to, although... *giggle* our marriage looks nothing like either of theirs.

And we don't want it to!  We exchange knowing looks of agreement when either set of our parents are doing something we find annoying and we'll laugh or commiserate later that we're SO glad we don't  "     whatever     " like they do.  I'm sure our kids have the same feelings about us and I guess that's how life is.

We make our own lives and our own favorite ways of being a couple.

Speaking of the kids, July has become Anniversary Month around here.  Our oldest son and his wife

celebrated seven years of marriage the week before our 30th anniversary, then our youngest son & his wife

had their first-ever anniversary the week after!  Yep, all within three weeks.

I'm not sure how that happened, but I think it's kinda cool.  And convenient too in that none of us can quite forget any of the others' anniversaries.  Ha ha!

I have to admit...I was feeling pretty bummed that we didn't have any kind of "real" celebration for our 30th though.  I mean, that's supposed to be some kind of milestone, isn't it?  I sure don't know many couples our age who have been married even half this long.  I remember having "dreams" if you will, of being able to take a cruise for our 25th anniversary, but that didn't happen.  Not for lack of wanting on either of our parts, but for lack of funds?  You betcha.  So five years ago, we plunked down a chunk on a room for the night way high on this mountain, and it was awesome.

It just would have been more awesome if I hadn't worried about money the whole time.  *sigh*  And here we were five years later, and once again, absolutely no funds for any kind of get-away or even a room for the night somewhere.

I was getting really bummed.  We talked about maybe going to do the Virginia Creeper trail, which is a cycling thing, and that would have been great, but the drive was so long that we'd have been killed to have driven there, ride the trail and then drive back home in one day, so we didn't even attempt it rather than go and not enjoy it.

After having to replace our air conditioner system (lighting hit it) and then just the week before our anniversary, our water heater broke, saturating the carpet in our bedroom and adding another big expense we couldn't afford... we just didn't have any extra money for anything big.

I had spent the week being really sad over it to the point I just didn't want to do anything.  However, the day arrived, a Sunday, and my best friend from high school contacted me, who I hadn't seen in probably 10 or more years, who has recently moved back here with her newly-adopted TWO YEAR OLD son!!!  She was coming to our church and wanted to see if we could meet and at least sit together.  Of all days for this to happen, on our 30th anniversary had to be a "God thing" because this sweet lady was the one and only member of my "bridal party"..my maid of honor!!!  How cool is that??

So, we got to meet her adorable little guy, visit for a bit, then we took off.  We'd gotten a coupon for a free appetizer at a restaurant we like, but there's not one near us, so before I even knew what he was doing, Hubby was on the interstate and all he'd say was we were going to eat.

We drove 100 miles away, found the restaurant and had a great meal.  By this time, God had worked on my sour attitude and I was just enjoying time with my husband of 30 whole years.  I began to think about how hard-working and caring he is.  How he's encouraged me to try harder and do more than I ever would have attempted myself.

Later, we stopped in a couple of surplus home goods stores and bought a few little items, found a gorgeous duvet cover with shams for our king size bed for just $18!!  Then we walked through the other place, that was more for builders I guess.. it had furniture and decor and we saw some gorgeous items that gave us some inspirations for future improvements on the house.

Then we went to a couple of health food stores and he helped me pick out meals for the coming week.  His request, saying "since it's our anniversary"... LOL! is for me to start eating better since I don't do well in that area.

*sigh*

Well, okay.  So, we ended the day at Whole Foods, where we ate a slice of "wholesome" pizza and drank his ever bottle of kombucha tea (don't ask)  Ha!

and then stopped at the Walmart at home to pick up some batteries we needed and I bought us a selfie stick.  See?

This is the photo I sent to the kids showing them how techno-savvy their parents are.  HAHAHA!!

And so, our 30th anniversary came and went and left me with a sense of satisfaction. A deep contentment.  I am sad that I've wasted so many years being dissatisfied with things, life, people, myself... but I am doing my best to change things now.

And I'm looking forward to reaching our 50th anniversary and yes, still hoping we might have a bit bigger celebration by that time.  But if not, I know that'll be okay too.

We have each other and we're happy.  That's enough.

Philippians 4:11-12 - "Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need."