15 years

Wow. 15 years. Only 15 years or already 15 years? :-) I think back to some of the funny things that weekend and how much we didn’t know or think about. We got married in my home church but I didn’t even know the pastor who married us and he really didn’t know much about how the church worked-the sound was awful. I remember going to get Brian fitted for his tux and they asked me if I had my dress altered-well, the thought never occurred to me. The dress fit, wasn’t that all that mattered? Yes, I was the first wedding in the family and I was only 19 at the time, so what did I know?! I always had to wear my watch, so they practically had to pry it off my wrist that day. The people in our wedding were an interesting mix. A lot of Brian’s lifelong friends, and a lot of “period in time” friends for me. Probably the best comment from our video-“Someone forgot to tell them this was a RE-ception” (we were late for the reception, I am sure you can feel in the blank as to what he was thinking of! But we were running around dropping some things off. Really. We were. I promise!)
Well, needless to say we got’ter done and had our 2 days off from milking cows in the big hubbub of Fargo, ND and it was back to life. We lived with Brian’s parents for six months after the wedding before we got our own apartment. I tell you, marrying a dairy farm is not an easy business! The weekend we moved in I took that first pregnancy test and baby #1 was on its way. Three years later we moved into our first home with two little girls.
And then there was life--milking cows, buying and selling cows, moving my parents closer to the grandkids, more babies, homeschooling, life changes, faith changes, adoption, Zambia, relationship changes. Lots of life in 15 years. Some really great, some really, really hard. But we’ve made it so far-together, and only because we are together. I can’t imagine life without this man of mine. Sometimes we joke that if I die, Brian will be married before I am cold in the ground because he can’t live without me. I honestly don’t think I could ever find someone who is all that he is for me and all that I need. I just don’t think it’s possible, so I can’t imagine doing life with someone else. No one could ever replace all that he is for and to me-husband, father (to this crazy klan-that says a lot!) friend, lover, mentor, pray-er, teacher. I cry at the possible thought of ever losing him.
I LOVE YOU BRIAN DALE!

(I am loving looking at the photos-oh the hairstyles, oh how young we were, oh the fashion! If I had time and energy I would post all of them, some are just.so.hilarious!!)