Posts Tagged ‘Broken Heart’

Day 360 and Counting… One Year After “The Phone Call”

Posted: August 28, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Sunday, July 31, 2011

One year since “the phone call!”

One year ago today, after completing the mock triathlon with my training group prior to my first triathlon, Ceecee called me and asked me to move back in with her.  Why I had it so firmly in my mind that when I completed the triathlon, somehow we would be reconciled, I don’t know.  I just had an incredible amount of faith for that.  Of course, I thought it would be when I completed the actual triathlon; I never imagined the mock tri having any significance.

Anyway, that was exactly a year ago and two days later, I moved into the loft with my wonderful wife and a week later, the restoration tour began.  Now it’s nearly finished and it seems that it’s only been a few days and that it’s been forever, both at the same time.

Two days from now, one year to the day that I moved back in, we leave on our second honeymoon!  We’re going to Big Cedar Lodge, a world class resort south of Branson.  My wife used to work there and we have quite a history with the place.

Just go to the search bar on this blog and search “Big Cedar” and you’ll find numerous posts related to it.  From the tornado, to the ice storm, to shortly before we split up, Big Cedar Lodge has been a part of our lives.  Now, we will restore that beautiful place in a way that I’m sure neither of us will ever forget!

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Day 346 and Counting… The “Poofiest” Dress

Posted: August 14, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Well, my wife bought her dress for the ceremony.  It’s bright orange (yes, I know Alice wore a blue dress in the movie), and I don’t know any other way to describe it except, “poofy.”  We also went around and found a variety of accessories to go with it and it should be a dress that no one will forget!

We ordered the cake pops and I think the preparations are pretty much good at this point.  They kind of have to be, since we leave for California tomorrow!  Then we come back for 2 days, head to Big Cedar Lodge for our second honeymoon, come back home and the next day is our ceremony.

Hard to believe it’s been almost exactly a year.  On the one hand, it’s been the longest year imaginable.  On the other, it’s gone by so fast it seems like last week that we were getting back together.

 

Day 342 and Counting… Restoring the “Girls Just Wanna Run 5K

Posted: August 11, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Saturday, July 16, 2011

Today was the annual “Girls Just Wanna Run” 5K, the largest women’s only 5K in the state of Missouri.  Since I’m obviously not running, but Ceecee is, I volunteer to be one of the traffic control people out on the course.

This year, there were expected to be close to 1000 participants.  I didn’t count them as they came by, of course, but it was pretty impressive to watch that sea of women flooding out of the park and onto the streets.

Last year, we were separated during the race, but Ceecee still gave me a high five as she came by, although it was very awkward after the race.  This year is as different as night is from day and we were extremely glad to be a couple throughout the entire event.

For me, there was no hoping that she would spend any time with me afterward, or having to say goodbye again when it was over.  I didn’t have to worry about our future because we are as committed to each other as any two newlyweds.

Tonight is date night and then we only have a few days to make preparations before flying out to California!

Day 329 and Counting… Restoring The Hill

Posted: July 30, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Sunday, July 3, 2011

This was supposed to be just a fun weekend in St. Louis with family and friends, but it turned out to have a powerful restoration right at the beginning of it.  One that I didn’t even know we needed until yesterday morning.

We were heading up the interstate Saturday morning and would be getting to St. Louis around lunch time.  We were going to have lunch as a couple before meeting everyone else there later that afternoon.  We were talking about where we wanted to go to eat.

As we talked, I realized that there was one place on The Hill (St. Louis’ Italian community) that I had a bad association with, Mama Campisi’s.  That was the place where Ceecee had gone with my sister when they went to St. Louis without me.

I hadn’t known it at the time, but I realized later that my wife was going to test out leaving me.  It seemed that now, I still would try to avoid that restaurant and I didn’t want there to be any place on The Hill that bothered me, so I told her how I was feeling.

She immediately agreed that we should go there together, then, when we got to town.  We did, and we had an amazing time.  It was slow, and the waitress took extra time with us and we even got to share our story with her.  I had tears in my eyes when we left, but they were healing tears.

Day 322 and Counting… Restoring Eureka Springs

Posted: July 25, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Sunday, June 26, 2011

Yesterday was one of the most important days on the restoration tour.

Friday was pretty significant as well, but in a different way.  Our 80’s date was a lot of fun, but was also somewhat painful, as it brought out a lot of memories and feelings that neither of us really wanted to be part of our night out.  Even so, it was good and I’m glad we did it.

Yesterday, we restored Eureka Springs, though.  That was huge.

We hadn’t known about Eureka Springs for that long before all of our problems really became a threat to our marriage.  We had “discovered” it after years of people telling us how wonderful it was, but us just thinking that it was in Arkansas, so how great could it be?

When we finally went, we fell completely in love with it and it became sort of a magical getaway place for us.  It was also the place we went for a make-up weekend after I came clean about what had been going on with me during the time that I felt like our marriage was maybe no longer going to work.

It was where I got Ceecee to go with me prior to our separation last year, when I thought for sure that if we could go to that place and spend a day together, that she would realize that we needed to stay together and work things out.  She didn’t, and that day in particular has haunted me ever since.

No more, though.

Yesterday we went back as a happily married and in love couple and experienced that beauty of that place the way we had before and always should have.  We went to all our favorite spots, enjoyed all the feelings that came with it, and exorcised those memories from last year.  It was one of the last major stops on the tour, and we’ve only got a little more than  month to go!

Day 320 and Counting… Hospital or Thrill

Posted: July 23, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Friday, June 24, 2011

This morning, we decided to ride from our loft out to the Wilson’s Creek Battlefield where we used to train.  It’s in between Springfield and Republic and our phone gps system got us completely lost.  We eventually go there, but we certainly took the long way.

On the way back, we saw some really cool places and got into some pretty good hills out on the country roads.  One in particular, on the way down, was a “hospital or thrill” hill.

I don’t’ like to ride the brake going down steep hills and I know that if a dog or other small animal gets in front of the bike, or anything goes wrong, I’m going to the hospital.  It isn’t wise, but I love it.  It’s part of the thrill of road cycling, and I don’t want it any other way.

I have no idea how long the ride ended up being, but it was a good one to train for the Tour De Cox, which is only about 6 weeks away.

Tonight, I’m taking my wife on an 80’s date.  We’re both 80’s high school graduates and some of the baggage from the past has contributed to some of our problems when we separated, so we’re going to restore the 80’s tonight,

First we’re going to 1984, a video arcade downtown that’s full of nothing but old vintage video games like Pacman, Frogger, Asteroids, etc.  Then we’re going to Branson to watch an 80’s cover band who wears wigs and dresses up in all the crazy stuff bands used to wear back then.

Day 300 and Counting… Restoring the Medical Mile and 5K

Posted: June 27, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Saturday, June 4, 2011

What a good idea we had at art walk last night!

We haven’t really done a lot of planning for our vow renewal ceremony, but we know we want it to be fun, casual, and only include some family and a very few close friends – those who have stood by us and would really understand what this means. Last night at art walk, they were giving out free samples of cake pops and they had them in a bunch of different fun flavors and colors. We both thought they would be perfect to serve instead of a cake at our ceremony, so we’re going to look into pricing and flavors!

This morning, Ceecee ran the medical Mile and 5K, just like last year.  Well, other than her getting second place in the mile in her age group for the second year in a row, it was nothing like last year.

Last year, our marriage was going down the drain and she was making plans for a life without me.  This year, we were together and very much in each other’s hearts and minds.  This is just one of many restorations to come this summer!

Later today, we’re going to my Dad’s to celebrate his 81st birthday.  Hard to believe we’re 300 days into the restoration tour.  It’s all seeming to happen so fast now, but I’m making sure to document and savor it as much as possible while it happens.

Day 288 and Counting… Letting Go of the Second Job

Posted: June 18, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Monday, May 23, 2011

I finally put my notice in at Macy’s.  I haven’t needed the job for quite a while, but the extra money has been nice.

My getting that job was also a key step in getting my wife back because it showed her I was willing to be unselfish and sacrifice to make things better.  It was easy work, but it’s time for it to end.

In fact, my wife has wanted me to quit for some time now because she’d rather have me home than get the extra paycheck.  Our last day of school is this Thursday, and I’ve decided that I’m not going to work during our summer of restoration.

I’ll wrap up this weekend and then I’m done.  We’ll have all of June and July to complete the remaining steps on the restoration tour and then we’ll be riding the Tour de Cox and having our vow renewal ceremony on August 6th!

Day 287 and Counting… Another Graduation, More Restoration

Posted: June 15, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Sunday, May 22, 2011

Speaking of graduation, we found ourselves at another graduation ceremony this past weekend.

We drove out to western Kansas because my daughter from a previous marriage graduated high school in a small town called Bucklin.  She also had her baby about a month ago and we hadn’t seen him yet, so this was to be our first visit as grandparents.

It was definitely a trip of good times and bad times.

Let’s start with the bad.  During the graduation ceremony, they did this thing that was really cool.  Well, for some people, that is.

There were a bunch of roses on the stage and the graduates could go and get roses and present them to parents, grandparents, etc. out in the audience.  It was a powerful moment during the ceremony, but there was no rose for me.

I shook it off and went to talk to her and see the baby afterward.  My daughter did let me hold Carter, but otherwise pretty much blew me off and it hurt.

My ex wife came over and started trying to talk to me and Ceecee stepped in and told her to back off and leave me alone.  It was pretty cool that she was so assertive in a protective way for me, since she obviously knew I was upset.

The cool part was when we had left Bucklin and were on our way to Dodge City, where my in-laws are. I was thinking about the time I went to Dodge City during our separation and I brought back a Mexican cake and these special marinated steaks that we used to love to eat when we lived there.  Kasey, my wife’s youngest daughter was with us and she mentioned wanting to go to the Mexican store and I looked at Ceecee and she said, “It could be a little restoration.”

It was so amazingly great to be on the same page like that, and it turned out to be really cool for Kasey to be able to share it with us.  Last time, I had gone there by myself and things hadn’t gone well when I had come back.  This time, we were there together on the restoration tour and things couldn’t be better.

Day 279 and Counting… A Graduation Restoration

Posted: June 14, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Sunday, May 15, 2011

As much as we love the family, going to this graduation party was tough.  It was also a necessary stop on the restoration tour, and in the end, we’re both glad we went.

See, a friend of mine has a daughter who is a true miracle child.  She wasn’t even given much chance to live, much less grow up and graduate from high school when she was born at just 1 pound, 6 ounces, but grow up and graduate, she did.  There was a lot of prayer and sacrifice that went into getting to this day and we certainly wanted to be there to take part in the celebration.

The problem was that the party was being held at the church we attended at the time we separated.  That meant facing some of the people and the memories of that time of failure and loss, and my wife wasn’t sure she was ready to do that.  In the end, we agreed to go, with the understanding that I would stay by her side and not allow her to be put in any kind of uncomfortable situation.

It all turned out well and made a statement of who we are as a couple now.  It was also a confirmation of the prophetic words my friend had spoken to me during Ceecee’s and my separation, when he said, “When this is all over, you’re going to get a brand new wife.”  He didn’t mean a new person to be my wife, but that Ceecee would be made new and return to me healed and whole.

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