Pages

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Real Life Love

 

Yesterday Jonathan and I celebrated 7 wonderful years of marriage! It was definitely one of our less “glamorous” anniversaries but wonderful nonetheless.

It actually reminded me of what went down when we got married!

You see, this is me just THREE short days before we got married:

scan0010

My face says it all: I was SICK. And sick as I’d ever been with MONO! This picture was taken after I tried on my wedding dress to make sure everything fit right…and needless to say…the process wore me out.

The mono caused me to get jaundiced, so my eyes were yellowish.

I got one of the RARE side effects of the mono: a rash all over my chest, shoulders and back.

You can kind of see it in this picture:

scan0009

REAL fun for a bride already nervous about her wedding night!!!

To top it all off my tonsils were so nastily swollen that I snored like a bear on our wedding night and had the most evil breath ever.

We didn’t get to go on our honeymoon because I was so sick.

So you would think that all of this would add up to a disaster of a wedding, right?

But it wasn’t. It was all right. We were together!!

So last’s night’s scenario was a bit similar:

I’ve been pretty nauseated lately & my arm where some blood was drawn last week has gotten super inflamed and quite painful, plus my throat had just started to hurt, with the flu or something — so I wasn’t feeling so hot.

I hadn’t taken a shower since Wednesday because of getting so lightheaded from standing up for too long –- so I didn’t look so hot.

Our house has gotten pretty cluttered from me being out of commission for while --- so the house didn’t look so hot.

So it was a recipe for an anniversary celebration disaster, right?

Nope. It wasn’t.

It was wonderful!

Wonderful because I married a wonderful guy who was able to look past the grubbiness of my current state and see the bride he married (who wasn’t too different, now that I think about it. HA!) He is so good to me and treats me better than I deserve.

We fed the kids mac n’ cheese and Jonathan gave baths while I started cooking up a meal for just the two of us --- Chicken Wraps w/ a creamy Asian peanut  sauce --- VERY yummy!

DSC07947

DSC07950

After the kids were in bed Jonathan started playing a mix of love songs he compiled for me and we danced in the kitchen --- while I cried!!!

Being sick AND pregnant was a double whammy for my emotions last night! And since I am a “words of affirmation” kind of girl every time a new song came on, which were ALL dedicated to me, I. Lost. It.

But it was wonderful. So wonderful that I had to have Jonathan turn off the mix so I wouldn’t be crying the whole evening!!

I told him, “This just means that I REALLY like it.” :)

As I looked around our cluttered kitchen I was struck with this thought, which I expressed to Jonathan:

“All of this clutter just means that our home is filled with life! *tears* And that life came all because we fell in love!” **more tears**

And my dad reminded me that my “body clutter” I’m experiencing is also because it is filled with life. Also because of love.

DSC07957

Real life love.

10 comments:

Sheila said...

Thanks for posting this. I love it. Makes me so happy!
Anika

Jeff said...

I loved this post, too! This really is REAL life and REAL love! Sometimes life is so overwhelming (especially when not feeling well)...I love how you are happy and make the best of it despite it all! Congrats on seven wonderful years! :)

Heather said...

Candace this was wonderful. Thank you for sharing and I can echo all of the same sentiments with my current stage of life as well. You are truly blessed, as am I. I am so glad you had a wonderful anniversary and have such a sweet man to care for you.

Mom said...

I can't believe it's been seven years already! Your beautiful post brought back such great (and stressful!) memories of a wonderful day! We are SOOOOO glad that despite all you were going through, health-wise, that you were determined to "carry on" to become the wonderful wife, mother and daughter-in-law that you are!

I am so glad you and Jonathan had such a nice anniversary celebration. All my love to both of you!

Anonymous said...

I love you, sis! You are such a beautiful person. I'm searching for someone who will make me as happy as I know Jonathan is:) Thanks for being a great example.

Andrea said...

How sweet!! You guys are too cute.

Deciding to Dance said...

I love you Candace! I love this post. I remember you having Mono on your wedding day. You looked so beautiful and happy, I kept forgetting that you were so weak. The picture of you just 3 days before your wedding is so beautiful! You look gorgeous even with the exhastion in your eyes.

This post is wonderful, and I'm so glad that we both were blessed to be married to one of the amazing Evans' boys. They are all awesome aren't they? Hopefully we can get together again soon. We sure miss you guys.

Brian and Janette said...

So glad you two have each other and that you are so happy!

Christina LeSueur said...

Happy 7! Isn't it so nice to be loved even with all the flaws you think you have?! That is one thing that Phil and I talk about...that someone can completely overlook the bad and just see the good in you. Marriage is truly awesome. Congrats and get feeling better!

Martha said...

Aw, Can! This is a sweet, sweet post. I am teary-eyed just reading it! This is LIFE. Life is LOVE. And its even more important that we LOVE our LIFE.... no matter what stage we are in!! You are such a beautiful person inside & out.... and you & Jonathan have a beautiful thing going. I'm so proud of you & your courage and dedication to be a mother. Its hard & wonderful. = ) I love you!