She trusts me...

Thirteen years ago this month, I married the love of my life.  She trusted me when she had no reason to.  I joined the US Air Force with the major goal of marrying my high school sweetheart.  She trusted me enough that she flew from Mobile, AL, to Minot, ND, to marry me.  It played out like this...

She graduated high school on May 25th, got on a plane and flew to me on May 26th, and we eloped on May 27th...no parents, no family, just two of my friends from basic training (we had to have witnesses...thanks again Jason and Kristina!!).

And here we are - 13 years later....I know that may not seem like a long time.  However, I think it is under today's standards with the 50% divorce rate - and that is for normal people; we were a military/police family!  But back to the trust thing:

She trusts me.  We agreed early on that she was going to stay home with the boys.  She trusted me to provide for our little family without her needing to find a job.  And even though I was sometimes unsure of how we were going to do somethings, we somehow managed (See the unwritten posts on "Awesome Family" and "God's Math").  But the bottom line is that she trusted me then and she trust me now.

It's been 82 days since I left home to plant our family tree across the nation.  I have done everything that I can at this point.  Now I wait...

All that being said, I want to say I trust her.  She is bringing with her the most precious cargo a father could want.  She is flying, across the country, with our sons.  This may not seem like a big deal to some, but none of them have ever flown...and she is doing it alone...

But...I trust her.  I owe her that.

I love you baby...I cannot wait to get you and the boys here next week!

Side note:  May 27th is our anniversary....Exactly 13 years later, I am picking her up from another airport, to start yet another chapter in our lives.  I love it!


~Brooks

"Marriage is to family what legs are to a table."

"But we don't have cones at home....?"

Tonight, we had dinner at one of the many local fine eating establishments in the area:  Dairy Queen.  We don't go there often but when we do, we usually get ice cream.  However, tonight, to my seven year old's dismay, we did not.  You see, Coral had not long ago purchased some delectable grocery store brand ice cream.  We (my wife and I) decided we would just eat that instead of getting the creamy soft serve at the restaurant.  When we announced that at the end of the meal, Connor says "but we don't have cones at home".  Fast forward about an hour...he did not eat any ice cream...not because of the cone but because he was full of fried chicken and French (side note: should that word be capitalized since they did not invent them?) fries.  He was really just eager to go to bed after his shower, as were his brothers.

Connor was just doing what most of us do.  He wanted it at first, but then after the thought (and the dinner) settled, it did not sound so great, cone or no cone.  How often do fathers do that?  Men sometimes eat too mush (wonder from their wives), under the allure that the ice cream with the cone (of the "other woman") is better.  Then they realize afterwards that the dinner (family) they had before was more filling and didn't make him sick, just sleepy.

Men need to wake up and be men.  Don't have relations with a woman until after you have fallen in love with her, after you have fully committed to her, and after you marry her.  And here is the kicker:  you should stay with her.  You have to stay with her.  You swore you would.  From the most elaborate to the simplest, all wedding vows have the whole "sickness/health", "good/bad", "thick/thin" lines in them.  And no matter how you feel at that moment of lust, or anger, or whatever, that is one half of the whole you.  There is nothing that will ever replace her, no matter how hard you try.  So don't try.