Today I framed the first of our wedding photos. John and I have been married for almost 9 years.
I heard a speaker on public radio this afternoon talk about how people get stronger during times of adversity. Though I have heard it many times, this is the first time that I truly understood it...and believed it.
I believe it's true that this economic "downturn" is making me stronger. I believe it is making my marriage stronger, our family stronger...and it is absolutely making us stronger parents.
John and I can see clearly now the mistakes that we've made over the past decade. We wish we had done many things differently so that money might not be as tight, and our future not so precarious.
We regularly reminisce about how things were when we grew up--so different, we've thought, than how our children are now growing up.
John remembers that his parents always had more than enough money; always had nice things--including a big, fancy house in a swanky part of town...and a sailboat, even though his mother stayed home with the kids. These memories often trouble him because he feels his children don't have what he did at their age. This is a topic of frequent discussion between us.
It wasn't until last week when John shared some of our economic frustrations with his mother that he got a glimpse of how it really was when he was growing up. For example, she told him that she would count the days on the calendar until his dad got paid so she could go to the grocery store.
And thus, a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
This is precisely the reason that I maintain this blog: To chronicle how it really was for my children to look back on. As they grow up I want them remember all the things we have done together, how much they are enjoyed and loved, and all the things we are working so hard to teach them.
And, selfishly, I want them to know me like I have never known my own mother.
And so the wedding photos framed today are a part of working to surround my kids with more proof of their real history...
Visual complements to my written words.
