Have you ever had one of those weeks where you just wish you could be anywhere aside from where you actually are? That is me this week. Which then led me think of how far I have come.
M and I did a long distance relationship for 2 years. This not only taught us how to be without one another, but it made us soo grateful for the time we do have together. We survived one "break-up" for less than 23 hours all because the stress was getting to be to much, and then realized that if being together is what we really wanted then we would not only have to work hard to make it last, but we would have live each day to the fullest and never leave a day with out at least saying I Love You once. It worked, it got us through college. No more almost break-ups. It was pretty serious pretty fast.
I moved out my Mom's house when I was 20 and we bought our first house that same year. Man do I remember feeling like we were signing our life away. But it was soo very worth it. Our very first house was perfect for us. It was small, yet cozy. It was full of lessons. How to pay bills and get by when times were tough. Working at Wal-Mart didn't pay all that much and M used to get laid off in the winter and we would struggle. We made cut backs and learned how to budget better. We pretty much agreed that this was no way of living and would make compromises for it to never happen again. It was only one winter, but we learned soo much from it. It made us appreciate things soo much more.
We adopted Jazz and then Diamond. Diamond alone taught us patience - something we still struggle with to this day, especially myself. She taught us that life isn't always black and white, there is grey matter. There are also things in life that we cannot control, but if we work hard enough, pray hard enough things can change. Diamond came along way. She ended up being one of the best dogs I have had the pleasure to own! She came into our lives scared, broken and lonely and left our lives as a happy go lucky dog. We worked with her until she became comfortable with us and our lifestyle.
We got engaged! Had a nice 2 year engagement in order to get things done the way we wanted them and not going into debt while doing it! Favorite day of my life thus far! It truly was perfect and there are very few things that I would change.
We bought and sold vehicles, I got a new job in my chosen career path. It started off wonderful and ended horribly, but brought me to where I am working today. I can honestly say that I think some things happen to you in life to actually teach you lessons. These things teach you to be less naive, not soo trusting, to stand up for yourself. Simple lessons that our parents teach us, yet we forget until we get burned by them and then we truly learn the lesson.
It's funny, as a child growing up and establishing life skills, you truly become an adult when you learn from these skills. It is one things to know about the skill but until you have to use it, be abused by it and learn it, then you truly understand.
We bought our second Home. Yes there is a difference, our first house was a just a house, it provided us shelter and love and lessons, but our second purchase became our home. It was where we took pride in the furnishings and let go of many hand me downs, where we put some blood, lots of sweat and our hard earned money into each room and made this home just how we wanted it. We take pride in where we live and how much we have put into it. It is where we are today and could not be happier.
So when I look at the big picture, we have come along way, yet we are soo far from where we have yet to go in live. We will get there, but I just need to remember one thing at a time. Take many stops along the way and take it all in and remember each moment for what it is, whether it be good or bad, grow from it, learn from it and most importantly do it together hand in hand. Don't rush yourself, things will happen when they are supposed to. There will always be bumps in the road, embrace them.
So today I stand and reflect on all of this and appreaciate where we are today and how hard we have worked and arecontinuing to work to get where we want to go!
