Marriage Monday--How We Met

I have been dismally lax about participating in the Marriage Monday challenge, although I have been very energetic about reading everyone else's posts!

This week's topic is how we met our husbands and what drew me to him. I am going to follow Melissa's lead and direct you here to read our story. I wrote it around the time of our 10th anniversary, and the best part of the post was the comment that Trevor left for me. I literally cried when I saw it, and anyone who knows me would tell you that I am not a crier.

To see how other women met their husbands, visit Christine at Fruit in Season.

Anniversary Trip Part II

Let's see.....where were we? Oh yeah, just dressed and ready to start the day. We walked down the street to Alamo plaza where there were a few things that we wanted to check out. It turns out that none of it seemed interesting once we were there except for this thing called the Ultimate Mirror Maze Challenge. It was a maze made entirely of mirrors in a dark room with only red lights to guide you. It was so much fun! You put on plastic gloves (so the mirrors don't get smeared) and the object is to find the exit which is harder than you might think. You can go through it as many times as you want and it's an all day ticket in case you decide that you haven't had enough of bumping into mirrors that look like corridors!

After that we went to La Villita but were disappointed to find that most of the stores were closed. We think they were preparing for Fiesta because there were a lot of temporary structures being erected and workmen everywhere. We did find a store that made scented wax chips in a small factory there on site and purchased some for the house. We went back down into the River Walk to just see where we ended up. After walking back to the Rivercenter we decided that we wanted to find a Pappasito's for lunch. I hate to say this, but we don't really like any of the Mexican restaurants on the River Walk or nearby. So we went back to the hotel to get the car and drove to lunch which was fabulous (as usual). We decided over lunch to go to Brackenridge Park to the botanical gardens for the afternoon.

Mama had recommended this to me a few weeks ago, but I didn't think Trevor would be interested. It turns out that he was and it was a beautiful place to stroll around. The weather was perfect and it had incredible landscaping that fit right in with the natural surroundings. We spent several hours there and by the time we left we were pretty tired. We figured that a movie would be the perfect place to rest up so we drove back to the Rivercenter for a movie. We saw "The Reaping" with Hillary Swank and let me just save you $8 plus the cost of snacks. The most I can say is that we had 2 hours to sit and rest before we did more walking.

We went back through the Rivercenter one more time to get a present for Nathan (ant farm....we may live to regret that purchase) and to get back to the car. Once we were back at the hotel we got cleaned up and changed to go out for dinner. We had heard that Texas Land and Cattle had really good steaks, so Trevor checked the yellow pages for a location nearby. He found one and decided that since it was getting dark and it was a good walk from the hotel we should just drive there. So at 7:45 we set out to find the restaurant but discovered that it was no longer there. We knew there was one close to Pappasito's and it meant getting back on the freeway and going further that we had anticipated, but we really wanted to try this place so off we went. On the way, we passed a Benihana's and thought that would be a fun place to try so Trevor tried to exit so we could turn around and go back. Tip for San Antonio travel: their exit and u-turn system is nothing like Houston (or the rest of Texas). We must have driven down I-10 West a good 5 miles before we finally found a place to turn around! So we finally made it to Benihana's, go inside and discover that there is a 1 hour wait for a table. Right.

So as we are pulling into the parking lot of Texas Land and Cattle I realize that we have been driving around for an hour trying to find the perfect place to eat. I have to say that it was worth the wait. It was quite possibly the best steak I've ever had, and the company just made it better.

So today is Sunday and we slept in until 8 am and are planning to head out to make the trip back home. We are going to stop on the way and get some food to go and eat by the Guadelupe river. We really miss the kids and can't wait to see them, and want to get home in time to go to our small group at church tonight. It's been a great trip. We've had time to relax, reconnect and basically just lounge around together and I couldn't have asked for anything more. It's been a perfect getaway with my one and only love....can't wait for next year!

Anniversary Trip Part I

Trevor and I left yesterday morning for San Antonio to celebrate our 10th anniversary. We decided that we would stop on the way and go through the natural bridge caverns since Trevor had never been to one. It's funny that we lived in Carlsbad, New Mexico for a year and never visited the caverns there. Anyway, it turned out to be a great time. The weather was so beautiful....clear, breezy and 75. We walked around outside waiting for the tour to begin and just enjoyed the hill country landscape and being together.

The walk through the caverns was about an hour and we went 180 feet underground. It might not occur to everyone right at first that if you go down 180 feet you at some point have to come up 180 feet. Yes, you are nodding your head and snickering now.....it shouldn't be too hard to envision Trevor and I huffing and puffing back up the steep, slippery path to daylight! Actually, it wasn't too bad for me because I do a lot of walking at work, but Trevor realized what his desk job is doing to his endurance. We may have to rethink the concept of a family walk/bike ride in the evenings.

The formations in the caverns were quite beautiful and each vault we entered seemed more amazing than the last. We were glad to get back to the surface after only an hour because although the temperature was about 70 degrees, the relative humidity was 99% with no moving air. Combine that with a constant uphill walk for the last part of the trip, and you are longing to pull in a deep breath of dry, cool air.

After the tour was finished we made our way into San Antonio to check into the hotel and get cleaned up before we went out for the evening. Because this is a PG blog (and because my parents read it!) I will suffice it to say that we are greatly enjoying each other's company and leave it at that. We decided to walk around for a bit before we ate so we went down to the river walk for a stroll. It was really nice to just stop and look leisurely at whatever caught our eye without checking our watches every 10 minutes to make sure we weren't going to be late picking up the kids or getting home to relieve the babysitter. We ended up eating dinner at Hooters (we can't help it...we love the wings!) and then walking around the Rivercenter as we waited for the comedy show we planned to see begin. I've been to better live comedy shows, but we had a good time and we met some people from Lake Charles while we waited. They looked to be in their 40's and were on their honeymoon. It's funny that no matter where you go you can meet people with something in common with yourself....where they are from, religion, job...whatever. There is always something that connects us to the bigger picture around us if we are just willing to open up and make contact.

By the time we left the club it was 10:30 pm which to parents with young children translates into 2am single time. We went directly to bed and fell into a deep sleep which did not end until this morning when we woke up without the aid of an alarm clock or small child crawling in between us. I have to admit that I miss the small child part a little, but the alarm clock thing is great! We just finished getting dressed and we are ready to start our first full day in San Antonio. Not exactly sure what we are going to do, but it doesn't matter because we have all day and we are together.

I Am My Beloved's

A week from today, Trevor and I will be driving to San Antonio for the weekend to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. Ten years. It doesn't seem that long, but I can't deny the facts. At this time 10 years ago, I was tying up loose ends regarding the wedding and Trevor was making plans to drive home from Virginia with his best friend Phil.

Trevor and I have known each other for almost 22 years. We met in Jr. High band in 1985 and have been friends (with a few bumps in the road) ever since. We went through high school together and then I went to college and Trevor joined the Navy. Over the years, we still remained friends and even tried dating a time or two but it never seemed to work out. He would come home on leave for Christmas or some other holiday, and we would get together for a dinner and a movie, or I would go out to his parents house for a visit.

He came home in December of 1996 and we met for our usual dinner and catch up time. We were both involved with other people, but both of those relationships were coming to an end for various reasons. I vividly remember sitting across from him at The Black-Eyed Pea and feeling like I had been struck by lightning. I realized at that moment that I had been so blind to the fact that he was my soul mate and I felt a rush of regret that I had not seen it sooner. Retrospectively, we would have never made it if we had married sooner. We we were both too selfish and immature to even consider the covenant relationship of marriage. God knew the right time and place for the two of us to come to together and it happened exactly as He intended it.

Over the next few weeks we spent obscene amounts of time on the phone with each other and we gave the US Postal Service a run for their money with all of the letter writing that we did! By mid-January we were engaged and Trevor was flying home from Virginia every two weeks to spend the weekend with me. I had a little apartment in the Medical Center and we spent those weekends together remembering the times that we had spent together and planning for our future. I look back on those hastily snatched days together as some of the best memories of my life. I remember asking Mama how she kept the intense feeling of love and attraction alive in her marriage over the years. She told me that every marriage goes through highs and lows, but to remember one important thing. She told me to always remember how I felt when I saw Trevor walking towards me down the concourse at the airport as I eagerly awaited the feeling of his embrace. She said that no matter how bad things may get from time to time that if I could recall that feeling of total love and devotion, it would help me get through those difficult times.

I can say with complete honesty that her advice was some of the best she has ever given me. After 10 years together, there have been times when we were simply living from day to day with no real passion. During those times, all I had to do was see him through my minds eye walking towards me with his arms open and that beautiful smile of love and desire on his face. It wasn't a magical cure for our difficult times, but it gave me hope that those intense feelings would resurface and that our marriage would be that much stronger for the challenges we faced together.

Trevor is my best friend. He is the person I want to talk to when I have good news or bad. I turn to him for comfort, support, guidance and unconditional love. We have a mutual respect for each other and a relationship built on complete trust and honesty. When I ask Trevor if I look fat in a dress, I know that he is going to tell me the truth. We don't play those games with each other...it's counterproductive and only causes hurt feelings. I can tell him anything....even my deep, dark secrets that only God has heard.

I thank God on a daily basis for my husband. He is my best friend and the love of my life. I look forward to remaining years that God has given us. Whether it's 1 more year or 30 more years with him, I will love him as much at the end as I did at the beginning.

I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine. Song of Solomon 6:3