Homestead Diary February 14 2022
It’s Valentine’s Day!
My husband and I have celebrated 32 Valentine’s Days together.
Today I thought I’d share a bit about the two of us.
Just a short story as the day has been busy, and long, so I’m short on time!
Just over 32 years ago, I had recently moved back to White Rock, British Columbia, Canada from spending a year in my birthplace, the Netherlands. I was 18, almost 19 at the time.
Graydon, my husband, was currently in the Canadian Navy, he was 23, almost 24.
A mutual friend of ours invited several of us to come for a ships tour while they were docked nearby in Vancouver. It was during that ship visit Graydon and I first met. I knew that first meeting that he was the man I would marry. It was as though a voice whispered it to me as I watched and listened to him explain all sorts of parts and workings of the ship to us during that tour.
That first meeting was February 2nd 1990.
By March 10th he asked me to marry him. Mid September he was finished his stint in the Navy.
We married on September 22nd of that same year. I was 19, he was 24.
Through the years we’ve had many ups and downs, and persevered through many trials and tribulations. We both grew in maturity, together. We raised five children, including twins, homeschooled all of them from kindergarten through to graduation in 3 different provinces, through many moves, and during a time when homeschooling wasn’t considered ‘normal’. Mind you, not much of what we’ve ever done has been ‘normal’. We do a lot of things VERY well, but ‘normal’ is not one of them!
Just look at the business I’ve successfully run for the past 17+ years… creating reusable cloth pads and shipping them worldwide. Most wouldn’t consider that ‘normal’. lol
All we’ve been through, everywhere we’ve been and all that we’ve done, has led us to where we are today.
Still married and we would still choose one another today. It hasn’t always been easy, but both of us have always known that going our separate ways would never be easy either, so we may as well stick it out together, and continue working together towards a better life for ourselves, for our family.
And that’s what we’ve done!
We both know that neither of us is perfect, but we’re perfectly suited for one another because neither of us ever gives up. We continue to learn, to grow, and to strive to thrive in our marriage, not just survive.
We’ve both seen a lot of ‘surviving’ marriages.
I’m sure we all have. Seek to thrive instead. It’s a much better goal!
