frazzled & frumpy

The Handy Man woke me this morning at 5am.  "We should be together today," he said between kisses. I agreed. He left for work and I laid awake.  This is what you do when you have a big family and your anniversary is a couple weeks before Christmas. I'll spend my day going to the laundromat and working on my book.  Tonight, we'll have pizza with the kids and watch a movie on TV.  (Don't worry, we'll get a real celebration after Christmas.) As I curled up under my blanket, I thought about the last 21 years and what we have to show for it.  No big house, fancy car or even a date to mark the day.  What we do have is eight beautiful, healthy children who aren't bothered by things like saying 'I love you' to us and each other.  We have more memories than I can count.  And, the best thing? We're more in love than ever.  We don't get those butterflies anymore, instead we have a familiar, comforting feeling of knowing that this person is there f...

21 years ago today, I was a one excited girl.  The flowers were paid for, the cake made and my dress altered.  Best of all, I was going to marry my best friend. We went out to dinner at Pizza Hut, and then he dropped me off at my parent's house.  The Handy Man went to our apartment where he'd been living for a week.  I know I slept that night, though I'm not sure how. If I could go back and give that girl advice, I'm not sure what I'd tell her. She's never been very good at taking it.  I might tell her to read this blog post by Single Dad Laughing.  It's great. I guess I have some ideas about how to make a marriage last. And, in celebration of our anniversary, I'll share them tomorrow. Until then, here's a few pictures from the big day.  I try not to look too close at how young I was. *sigh* At the temple. Do I look tired? Not really, I just cried all my makeup off. Mmm, cake. We didn't even get a piece. (Does that make you ...