Love and Loss

We both celebrated and grieved this weekend - celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary, and, the same day, grieved the loss of my favorite uncle, Uncle Walter. Walter died early in the morning of August 29th, after an 8+ month battle with cancer that was really nothing short of heroic bvased on his initial prognosis. He will be sorely missed by our entire family.

A few things about our anniversary. First, I am truly shocked and amazed that it has been ten years since Brad and I walked down the aisle. Time has flown by, and in the blink of an eye since I found myself planning blue hydrangea flower arrangements, silver seashell sugar scoop favors, and rehearsal dinner on the Pilgrim Belle, suddenly three kids (not even babies!) have emerged and I find myself 35 and married, now, to the man who has become both my best friend and a better father than I could ever have imagined. So I'm taking stock, and here are some of the highlights and changes since we married 10 years ago:

- We have finished 3 degrees between us: Brad his bachelors, and me two Masters degrees;
- We have visited 12 different countries - and lived in two (including the US);
- We have lived in 5 different apartments/homes, in 3 states, and have purchased 4 homes (we've sold all but one, of course! Not keeping residences in every state, LOL!)
- We have worked for only 2 companies between us during our entire marriage: Unilever for me (9 years on August 29th!) and NSSC for Brad (11 years this past June);
- We have had three beautiful (in my very biased opinion) children;
- And sadly, we have lost 6 of our closest family members: Brad's mother and father; our niece, Stephanie; my Nan; my grandfather on my mother's side, and now Uncle Walter.

So lots has gone on in 10 years. Most of it has been fantastic, and I wouldn't change any of it. So to Brad, Happy Anniversary, to my best friend and forever partner.

Each year on our wedding anniversary I pull out the wedding video that Aunt Joyce and Uncle Walter had made for us as a wedding gift, and I reminisce. I adored our wedding day, adored the man I was marrying (though looking back, we both looked more like kids and it seems somewhat silly to call that very much younger Brad a man!) and thought it all turned our perfectly. But now, I am so thankful I have that wedding video to look back on, particularly to see the loved ones that we've lost. To see a close-up of my mother-in-law again, and see her dancing with Brad - and be able to share that with the girls, who never had a chance to meet her - is really, truly priceless. It brings tears to my eyes to see my Nan, and Brad's father, and Steph...and now Walter. But I'm so happy to have had such a beautiful day with all of them, and to be able to see them again.

The 29th is now also the day that Uncle Walter passed away, and so in the spirit of remembering him, I just want to post a couple of thoughts. Walter was one of the kindest, gentlest guys you could ever meet. What I enjoyed most about him was the fact that at every holiday get together, every meal or visit with the family, he would always want to sit down and talk - really talk - to me. He asked so many great, thinking type of questions, and more importantly, he actually listened to the answers. Maybe not a big deal now, but as a teenager that seems like a novelty! Walter was always the one who remembered what was going on in school, or what you were thinking about majoring in, or what you had coming up in life that was making you nervous. For that alone, he was someone you could really feel close to. A great listener, and also a great advice giver - particularly when it came to educational matters, since he worked in the school system. We gave Uncle Walter more than his fair share of ribbing for all the countless hours (days?) he spent behind that big clunky dinosaur of a video camera, but his narration was always a hit and now more than ever, I'm sure we will be happy to have the memories that he helped to capture and create.

R.I.P. Uncle Walter...until we meet again.

Life in Arkansas, Day 7...

So we're settling into our new version of normal. All in all, I can't complain too much about the transition, really. The kids have really done very well settling into the new house, which I think it largely due to the fact that we have a house as opposed to the originally planned apartment. We only went one day without childcare, and the kids are enjoying their new (temporary) babysitter, Arianna. We did a decent job of packing, with the exception of really underplanning on the toys that we might need to hold us over for a week. Brad ended up going to Target and getting some new puzzles, a set of Megablocks, and some books so the kids would have a bit more to do than the arts and crafts and handful of Polly Pockets I brought along.

I'm adjusting to life in the office. I really miss seeing the kids, but I think with the exception of Lyla, they're fairly ok with the situation. Sweet Lyla wants to cling to me quite a bit more now that I'm going to the office for the day, which obviously makes me very sad. But this office shuts down MUCH earlier than the Chicago office used to when I was there, and my commute is about 7 minutes. So it's very easy to get home at a reasonable hour and that has given us time to jet to the pool as soon as I get home and give the kids a nice swim to end the day. Brad and I were at the edge of the pool last night and both turned and looked at each other at the same time and he said, "Not a bad way to end the day, huh?" As often happens (I think this is really common after 10 years of marriage and more together...), we were both thinking the exactly the same thing at the same time. It's a good sign for when we move into our new houses, which will make swimming even easier since it's in the yard and doesn't require a drive to the clubhouse down the street. From a job standpoint, I'm relieved to finally be in Arkansas after months of feeling like I couldn't really do the job as well as I should be doing it from Massachusetts.

Our minivan arrives tomorrow morning off the car carrier (yay! I miss that thing SO much!) and our moving van is in the state. Humboldt is dropping off our shipment for temporary housing tomorrow morning (another YAY!) and the close on the new house is still on track for July 30th. So all in all - things are good!

8 Years Ago (yesterday)...

This is what Brad and I were doing:



OMG, can you believe how young we look?? Thanks to my Aunt Joyce (who I know reads from time to time), we have a fantastic wedding video to remember the day by...and this is the last couple of minutes of the video, that the videographer set to music and turned black & white. So much has changed in 8 years - the most obvious of which is the three amazing little girls we've added to our family. But one thing that hasn't changed is that I still think Brad's the greatest guy around, and I love him to pieces. I'm looking forward to many more years together.

Time Flies

Can it really be Sunday afternoon already? Where did my weekend go?!?

It's been hot and muggy this weekend, which has really been a welcome change from the odd cool weather we have been having. The kids got some fun time in their little pool and spent a lot of time playing outside with the neighbors. Today I took Maddie to College Pond for a swim while Sienna and Lyla were napping. (Slight vent here: this is seriously the only way I get out of the house these days, is by taking one or two of the kids and leaving Brad behind with whoever is sleeping. Otherwise, someone is ALWAYS napping in our house!) She had so much fun is definitely getting braver about going underwater and getting a little deeper. Swimming lessons start in a couple of weeks, and I think she'll probably make good progress this time around. She seems really open to the idea of learning how to swim right now.

Brad and I went out for dinner last night for our anniversary, which is coming up on the 29th. My mom offered to stay with the kids so we could go out (thanks, Mom!), and we ended up deciding to go with my brother and SIL. We don't see them all that often, but we have such a good time when we go out. We all agreed that we should try to make it a regular occurence. We had yummy Italian food at a place called Rustic Kitchen...mmmm.