Dandelions and Daydreams

The first backpacking trip I took with Brenton, or ever, I was 6 months pregnant.  It was Labor Day Weekend, and we decided to take a 3 mile hike into a mountain lake.  The drive to the trailhead was about 30 miles from our house–19 of those miles were on dirt roads.

I was disappointed and concerned when it started to rain just as we got to the trailhead.  Brenton and I discussed turning back for a few minutes and decided to press on.  The forecast was for partly cloudy weather, but sun in the afternoon.

We put on our backpacks.  Brenton carried about twice the weight as I did since I was carrying an extra 20 lbs in my “front pack” (pregnant belly).  The rain had slowed to a sprinkle as we set out on our hike.  After about 1/4 of a mile, we were walking in a downpour.

We were well prepared for rain and cold, and we had plenty of hot chocolate, hot cider, and chai mix to rejuvinate us once we got to camp.  We had another “should we turn back” conversation when the rain turned to sleet at about 1 1/2 miles up the trail.  We hiked on until we found a clearing in the trees hoping to see a break in the clouds.

When we found that clearing, delighted to see, through the sleet and rain, a brilliantly colored rainbow.

To laugh in the face of adversity is like seeing the rainbow through the sleet.

If you got my last post (4 things they never told me about marriage) via feed reader or email, you may have seen some typos or sentences that didn’t make any sense at all.

I’ve spent the day training Dragon naturally speaking on my laptop.  Unfortunately, I don’t have very good accuracy yet, and I hit the publish button to soon.  When I went back to edit the post, I realized that half of that didn’t make any sense at all, so if you want to read the revised version, check out my website.

Welcome to my new visitors from Marriage Monday!

1.  He won’t understand you; You won’t understand him.

In our house, one of the most common phrases that I hear from Brenton is, “You’re so cute. I love you”  This is usually followed with a silly grin and him shaking his head at me.  What he really means is, “Wow!  You’re…different (wierd).”

For me, it’s the little things that make me shake my head at him.  I’ve never understood why he takes a physics book on vacation with us, or why he sometimes insists on doing things the hard way.  I guess he also can wonder why I do things the hard way.

2.  In time you will think you have settled into a routine.

It happens with every married couple, over time you settle into a routine.  Date night one night, Bible study another, you have regular routine, you go to bed early like old people…

Life becomes calm, and just when you think you’ve got it all figured out…

3. Then he will change something.

I’ll never forget the night when, after over 25 years of marriage, my dad told my mom he didn’t really like pepperoni pizza!

With Brenton, I found out that he doesn’t care whether the shirts are all in the same drawer, but he is very particular about how they are folded.  He doesn’t like watermelon, or cantaloupe, or cucumbers–three of my favorite fresh produce items.  But I distinctly remember sitting in the grass with him eating ripe watermelon spitting seeds at the car, so when did he stop liking watermelon?

Routines in a relationship are all just a facade.  The only thing that stays the same is that everything changes. This is really bothersome to us control-freaks.  Sometimes you just have to ligten up.

4. Live Well.  Laugh Often.  Love Much.

At the end of the day, he’s a good man.  Our peculiarities blend nicely.  He keeps me laughing.  Marriage isn’t always what you expected, and no one can warn you of all the lessons that you need to learn.  It’s been said that you should keep your eyes wide open while you’re dating and half closed once you’re married.  I’ll add to that.  Live well, laugh often, and love much.  Love and laughter can wipe away a lot of misunderstandings.

Here’s the truth about my resolutions: 

I don’t actually expect to finish all 52 resolutions this year. I put them all out there for the world to see, and I aim high with my dreams.  The truth is, I have limited amounts of time and money to finish all these things.  Re-siding the house (along with other urgent home projects) will probably eat into the money that I would like to use to pay off student loans.  Not to mention that all these home projects may take up a lot of summer weekends, making it difficult to go backpacking one weekend per month.  Limitations–that’s reality.

A second truth about my resolutions:

I have no intention of starting everything on January 1.  In case you didn’t catch it, 52 resolutions mean that I have to finish, on average, one goal per week for all of 2009.  Some of the goals, I won’t be able to say that I have finished until the end of the year (keeping the house company ready, inviting people over once per month, the ongoing stuff…).  My plan is not to try and do it all today, but rather to build these habits over time.  At the end of the year, I want to say that I have incorporated home organization, exercise, daily Bible time, etc. into my life.  I want these things to become habits.  It takes about one month to develop a new habit, so here I go.

Do you have any resolutions for 2009?  What’s your plan to follow through?

1. Finish wedding album
2. scrapbook years 1-5 of marriage
3. Baby album
4. Use baby sign language
5. lose baby weight
6. shine sink daily
7. Make bed daily
8. Buy hotel quality sheets
9. establish a night routine for baby
10. Grow a square foot garden
11. clear a garden plot
12. re-side house
13. build bookshelves for living room
14. Fix floor joists
15. Open up poorch
16. Build cabinets in front bedroom
17. install baseboards in living/dining room
18. plant raspberry bushes
19. finish crazy quilt
20. finish rag rug
21. bake bread weekly
22. eat 5 servings fruit/vegetables eachday
23. keep house company ready
24. go backpacking or hiking one weeked a month during the summer
25. invite company over once a month (at least)
26. start a guestbook for our home
27. insulate floor in back addition
28. use cloth diapers
29. cut down (dying) apple tree & pant a new one
30. drink 64+ oz water each day
31. write in my blog daily
32. cut 20% off our grocery budget
33. use the Tightwad Gazette to save money
34. write letters to my loved ones
35. keep in touch with my siblings/in-laws
36. do the couch-to-5k running program
37. host a small group Bible study in our home
38. Establish a morning routine
39. exercise daily
40. declutter,dejunk, and free myself from this mess
41. work on paying off student loans
42. tile bathroom floor
43. plant bulbs in the fall (daphodills, irises, tulips, crocuses, day lilies)
44. learn to use GIMP, take a class if necessary
45. Daily Bible study
46. organize craft supplies
47. get a woodstove for next winter
48. celebrate my day every month
49. try a new recipe each week
50. make menus and follow them
51. try frrezer cooking for a month
52. participate in NaNoWriMo in November