Posts Tagged ‘romance’

Day 176 and Counting… Loving The “Blizzard of The Century!”

Posted: February 26, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Tuesday, February 1, 2011

So, I’m getting all kinds of blizzard warnings on my phone and I’m thinking, “I’m being paid to stay in my loft with my gorgeous wife and this is a problem, how?”

Of course, I’m being a bit facetious.  This is actually a very unusual amount of snow and winter weather for the Missouri Ozarks.  In fact, this particular winter storm is being dubbed as the “storm of the century” and such by local meteorologists.

The truth is, it’s probably a major problem for a lot of people.  In our case, we are looking out the windows of our loft and enjoying the whiteness and realizing once again just how blessed we are.  Being teachers, we don’t have to work today (or probably for the next few days by the looks of things).  We are warm and cozy in our loft.  We have plenty of food, and we have all of downtown right around the corner from us if we do need or want anything.

More importantly, I have a restored marriage that’s getting stronger everyday.  My wife is a true woman of courage, honesty, and love.  I can’t stop giving thanks for her or for what God has done in our lives and our marriage.

Now, what to do today….

Day 155 and Counting…Snow Day!

Posted: February 6, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Snow Day!  That means no school and Ceecee and I are making the most of it!  We have to get up early on school days, so we were already up when they called it.  We made breakfast with Mimosas (one of our favorites), then went back to bed.  No plans.  Just going to enjoy it!

Day 152 and Counting… Art Walk, Swimming, and Testing Out the Knee

Posted: February 4, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Saturday, January 8, 2011

First Friday Art Walk was a lot of fun last night.  The weather was great and we didn’t really have any plan.  We just walked around and took it all in.  There were some kid rockers playing “crazy train” in the downtown library.  None of them looked older than about 13, but they weren’t too bad.

Ceecee has still been swimming a lot and we’re working out pretty regularly again.  We don’t have anything specific that we’re training for, so our workouts lack direction somewhat right now.  I’ve been trying to gradually increase my running distance and testing out the knee.  So far, so good, but I haven’t pushed it, so I don’t really know.

Day 142 and Counting… Restoration in Old Dodge City

Posted: January 25, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Had a nice run through the streets of Dodge City this morning.  It’s one of our least favorite places for a plethora of reasons, but it’s where Ceecee’s Mom and Step-Dad live and close to my daughter as well.  We’ve hardly worked out or trained at all recently, so we decided we better do some running while we’re here.

Dodge City was where we lived when my spiritual decline really began.  We only moved there because we felt that God was calling us to.  We went through a painful church split and a number of other things that caused a lot of bitterness for me.  We were victims of numerous property crimes, had some falling out with people we had been close to, and got into financial difficulties with two houses that we owned.

Although it was wrong to do so, I blamed God and began to shut down.  I started shutting off my emotions toward Ceecee as well, although I didn’t entirely realize it.  We finally left and moved to Missouri as kind of a plea to be allowed to go and try to start over somewhere else.

This afternoon, we went walking downtown and through the old neighborhood.  We reminisced and romanced and it was wonderful to be in a place where we had gone through so much frustration and pain, but now had overcome it and were in such a different place, both literally and emotionally.  We had endured everything that had come against us and come out of it more in love and better people than we had been before.

Day 136 and Counting… Faux Christmas Morning

Posted: January 21, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Thursday, December 23, 2010

The drive to Tennessee today was fun and uneventful.  We had a small Christmas this morning with just the two of us before we got on the road.  We opened our stockings (yes, Santa still fills them even with no kids in the house) and exchanged a few gifts.  Even that was part of the restoration tour as we exchanged cycling jerseys we had bought for each other.  The meaning in that gesture was something that only we would understand and it also kept us pointed toward next August’s Tour De Cox, the day we will also renew our vows as the culminating moment of the restoration tour.

Day 135 and Counting… Irish Stew

Posted: January 18, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Yesterday I made Irish stew for the first time and it was much better than I even imagined.  We just found a recipe and decided to give it a try.  It’s definitely a keeper!

The 12 days have been a real blessing this year.  Sometimes in the past, they have been stressful.  Money has been tight, or it’s been difficult to find things.  This year, I’ve really been able to sense God in all of it.  It’s been fun and so easy to find just the right gifts.

Day 129 and Counting… I’ve Got Two Tickets To….

Posted: January 15, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Thursday, December 16, 2010

I was thinking that I would quit Macy’s as of the end of the year. Second jobs are a problem at tax time, so if I was done by New Year’s, at least we would only be impacted for one tax year. Between Dillard’s and Macy’s this year, I think we’re going to end up taking a bath on our income tax.

Anyway, notice I said I was thinking of it. As in past tense. Now, it looks like I’ll be on at least into the early part of next year. Not a big deal, but it allows us not to worry about all the travel we’ll be doing over the next few weeks and will help with the extra expenses of Christmas.

The 12 Days have been fun so far. No huge gifts, although the second day was kind of a big deal. I bought two tickets to the musical, “Chicago.” Ceecee had such a good time going to Cats that I decided I want to take her to the theater more in the future. Each year, our local little theater does a Christmas play and this year it was “Miracle On 34th Street.”

Unfortunately, I hadn’t learned my lesson yet, and I waited too long to buy tickets. By the time I went to the box office, there were no longer any shows left with two seats together. Since we weren’t going to go and not sit together, we missed it. Thus, the Chicago tickets for the second day of Christmas. See, the play isn’t until April, so it’s kind of lame that she gets them now and they literally sit somewhere for four months. On the other hand, it shows that I won’t let them slip away and that I know how much this means to her to be able to go.

Day 124 and Counting… The 12 Days of Christmas

Posted: January 14, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Saturday, December 11, 2010

Last night was date night. After dinner, we walked to the new downtown movie theater. It’s a bit more expensive than the other theaters in town, but the convenience of the location makes it worth it.

We started our 12 days of Christmas tradition 2 days early this year. Last year, we didn’t celebrate the 12 days. I suppose we didn’t really celebrate at all, since neither of us were sure we were going to continue on with our marriage.

Anyway, we usually start on the 13th of December because that day gives us exactly 12 days prior to Christmas for me to give gifts. I give her one thing on the first day, then 2 of something the next day, then three and so on. I’m not really sure how or when we started this, but it’s been a part of our marriage for many years.

Last year, Ceecee said I didn’t have to do the 12 days if I didn’t want to. I didn’t. I regret that now, but I can’t go back and undo the past. All I can do is love her the best way I know how from this day forward.

The gifts don’t need to be big or expensive. She doesn’t care about that. Her love language is receiving gifts and to her, getting a gift means that I am thinking of her and doing something tangible to show that she is loved. Today it was a hat from Aeropostale. Sometimes it’s candy. Sometimes it is something expensive, like jewelry. It really all depends on the budget we have and the things I find.

Oh yeah, back to the original point. We started early this year because we’re having Christmas on the 23rd this year due to travel plans. Instead of having to try to take the 11th and 12th day gifts along in the car and give them to her somewhere else, I just moved it up 2 days so that we will finish on schedule as though the 23rd is Christmas Day.

Day 119 and Counting… Being Good for St. Nick

Posted: January 10, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Monday, December 6, 2010.

Just for fun, Ceecee and I observed the German tradition of St. Nicholas day. We left our shoes by the front door last night and waited to see what St. Nicholas would bring us. Switches are for the bad kids and candy is for the good ones. Apparently, we’ve both been good.

Day 110 and Counting…A Surprise On The Way Home

Posted: January 6, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Saturday, November 27, 2010

This morning, we caught the train back to St. Louis. Everything in Chicago was beautiful and we’re living the dream, literally. Although it would be hard to ever top that very first visit back in 2003, and we have so many great memories through the years that followed, I’d say this was our best trip ever. It’s like the old and familiar plus the new and exciting melded into one experience. We had the joy of “new love” in the context of all our past experiences and memories. It really defies description and will simply live in our hearts as a healing and restoring experience that we will always carry.

While we were on the train, we got a call from the furniture manager at Dillard’s, where Ceecee used to work. She had picked out a sofa for us while she was still there, but we were waiting for it to go on sale. Now that she doesn’t have an employee discount anymore, she told the manager that if it ever went on clearance to call us and we would buy it. We didn’t expect that call today, but I told him where we were and he said he’d mark it sold and we could come in tomorrow.

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