Five and Happily Counting

In my last few posts, I have touched a couple of times on the "busy-ness" of these last couple of weeks as we have tried to squeeze last-minute activities in before the start of school. One of the events which seemingly faded into the background was the celebration of our fifth anniversary. We were blessed to have Mandi's Mom, a.k.a. Grammy, come stay with the kids while Mandi and I escaped to Kansas City for a little while. We drove down on a Tuesday, had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, the Cheesecake Factory, then checked into our hotel. On Wednesday, we spent the day at Oceans of Fun and Worlds of Fun, and had a blast! Our original intent was to take on the slides and water rides first at Oceans of Fun, then conquer the big roller coasters and thrill rides at Worlds of Fun while drying off before our drive home.

The afternoon temps, however, flirted with 100 degrees which made for a fairly short stay at Worlds of Fun. We didn't have to wait in any lines for the rides, as no one in their right mind was out in the heat that day. That element of the experience was fantastic, but we wore down fairly quickly and opted to finish the day back at Oceans of Fun in order to cool off. We stopped at our favorite steak house on the way out of town, and arrived home around 11:00 p.m. We had a wonderful time, and were thankful to have the chance to get away for awhile and enjoy each other's company.

It has been over seven years since Mandi and I met and began building a life together. From our first date, to engagement, to marriage, and now three children. I have learned more from my beautiful wife and kids than any professor or teacher ever taught me, and the best part is that I continue to learn on a daily basis. I suspect that trend will continue for a very long time. The subject of marital disagreements has arisen several times in various discussions between Mandi and I, because we have yet to have a real knock-down, heated fight. We were advised by the pastor who married us that we would fight, no question. More important was how we fought. I won't proclaim that Mandi and I have a complete understanding of how to fight, but the fact we have not really duked it out, so to speak, certainly makes me proud. Please understand we have had our disagreements, and even a few heated discussions here and there, but never anything we weren't immediately able to calmly talk through and work out. I think this is quite a testimony to the love and respect we have for one another, and is an invaluable learning model for our kids.

I fall in love with my wife all over again everyday, and while it might sound a bit cliche, I consider myself very blessed to have Mandi in my life. She means the world to me and while she doesn't hear it enough, I can't imagine existing without her. Our five years (officially) together has been wonderful, and I look forward to many more good times as we begin to plan for our future, watch our kids grow, and enjoy whatever might be in store for our family.