Johnson Family Dish

14 Years Together

And truly it just keeps getting better.  Sounds cliche, but when the cliche is true….

When you choose to marry perhaps you think, ‘yes, this is it, I have never loved anyone like I love this person, this is deep, marriage quality love.’  Then as the years pass by and your love grows and deepens, matures even, then maybe you think ‘wow, this is love, this we can sustain all of our lives.’  Then still more years pass and your devotion to eachother is tested in many ways and you pass on through those times still holding to one another then you think ‘now, now we have truly found out what love truly is’.  And by this time you know enough about love to know that in the coming years love is going to change some more on you.  So that perhaps when you look back on the times that you thought you knew love, thought you understood all of it’s depth, you may learn that you will never know all there is to know about love, not till the day you die.  That love can be better when it has been tempered by time and trials.  That you hardly recognize the thing you thought was love when you married but, somehow it was the perfect foundation for this love that you now have.

So, instead of thinking I know all about love, I am going to enjoy what love has to teach us in the coming years.  No doubt it has many more wonderful suprises in store.

And Randon, you own my heart!  I love you so much my darling there just aren’t words to describe the depth.  Thank you for giving me your heart and life, it is a gift I will spend my whole life trying to reciprocate.

Old Enough to Know

You’re Gonna Miss This – Trace Adkins

She was starin out the window of their SUV
Complainin sayin I can’t wait to turn 18
She said I’ll make my own money
And I’ll make my own rules
Momma put the car in park out there in front of the school
And she kissed her head, and said
‘I was just like you’
You’re gonna’ miss this
You’re gonna’ want this back
You’re gonna’ wish these days
Hadn’t gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you’re gonna’ miss this
Before she knows it she’s a brand new bride
In her one bedroom apartment
And her daddy stops by
He tells her it’s a nice place
She says, ‘It’ll do for now’
Starts talkin’ about babies, and buyin a house
Daddy shakes his head
And says baby just slow down
Cuz’ you’re gonna’ miss this
You’re gonna’ want this back
You’re gonna’ wish these days
Hadn’t gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you’re gonna’ miss this
Five years later there’s a plumber
Workin’ on the water heater
Dog’s barkin’, phone’s ringin’
One kid’s cryin’ one kid’s screamin’
And she keeps apologizin’
He says they don’t bother me
I’ve got two babies of my own
One’s thirty- six, one’s twenty- three
Huh, it’s hard to believe
But you’re gonna’ miss this
You’re gonna’ want this back
You’re gonna’ wish these days
Hadn’t gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you’re gonna’ miss this
You’re gonna’ miss this
Yeaahhhh… you’re gonna’ miss this…

I was listening to this song today in the car and thinking of how true this is.  This got me thinking about my children, how fast they are growing.  How quickly they could be gone.

 I looked back on my life and thought of the times that I cherish and wish I would have lived with more depth and understanding of the preciousness of those times.  Every time has its opposition, I think that is why sometimes it is so hard to see how wonderful it is, because it is never perfect, there is always something lurking around that is negative during these wonderful times.  I guess the trick is to just look at the positive and somehow overlook the negative.

Some of the times that I cherish and wish I would have appriciated better are:

The precious time I got to spend with my brothers and sisters at home, including Hesper (since she lived with us on and off for 6 years).  Home was hard but, I wish that I could have cherished my time with them more. 

The year I had living with my Dad when things were good.  Our long walks, hikes, drives and talks.  We have never gotten that back.

The day Randon proposed to me and our wedding day.  Randon was teary-eyed and emotionally present, I was deer in the headlights!  I just couldn’t process it all, I wish I could have.

The day each of my children were born and the first few months of thier lives.  I love those days and I realized at the time how special they were, I just wanted them to last forever and never loose that feeling.  Unfortunately, sleep deprivation kept me from feeling this as deeply as I wanted for as long as I wanted.

 The good news is that those were good times and I miss them but, I love life now!  THESE are the best days of my life, right now.  At no other time in my life have I felt so secure, happy and blessed to be alive.  I sure am happy that all of that talk of ‘your high school years are the best years of your life’ did not prove true for me. 

I thank the Lord for all of these blessings for truly they all come from Him. 

Jane Austen Quiz

I found this on Paola’s family blog and I knew that some of my readers, who are also avid Jane Austen fans,  would be interested in this too.  Have fun!

Take the Quiz here!

Hesper and Chris’ Wedding

Was so much fun!  I was so happy to be Hesper’s ‘maid’ of honor.  I know I am really the ‘matron’ of honor, but that just sounds so old and since everyone was calling me her ‘maid’ of honor I decided to stop correcting them.  I was wearing my wedding ring and so if there was any question, they could refer to that to settle it.

Hesper and I were incredibly sleep deprived since I flew in at 11:40pm on Thursday night and Hesper lives 1 1/2 hours from the Austin, TX. airport.  We got to her house and stayed up chatting until 5:30am.  We decided we better get some sleep so we slept a few hours before we got up to take care of all of the last minute details of the wedding.  We spent the day doing this and then went to dinner with some of Hesper’s friends, which was loads of fun.  We got back to Hesper’s house and we started talking, and saying “okay, only 10 more minutes and we HAVE to go to bed”.  We never did go to bed that whole night before her wedding!  We stayed up laughing and catching eachother up on everything that has happened to us and our mutual friends that we keep in touch with over the last 3 years, we just couldn’t stop ourselves.  We promised Chris that we would behave the next day, though severly sleep deprived.  Hesper and I tend to get desperately, stupidly, out of control silly when we have had no sleep, Hesper handles that better than me though.  I actually had an attack before we arrived at the wedding as we were gasing up to head that way, with Hesper.  Somehow I temporarily got my TX accent back and we were making jokes in this accent.  I decided to get a drink of water, thinking I could control the laughter long enough to take a  swig and not choke – WRONG!!  I took the drink, began to choke, while laughing, and couldn’t breathe so I start drooling profusely and water starts running out of my eyes and ruining my fresh make-up!  The laughing actually, finally, cleared my windpipe/lungs and I was breathing again.  Hesper did her breath slowly and deeply magic with me and I decided that I better try very hard not to laugh for the rest of the day, lest I should go out of control like that again. 

The actual ceremony was beautiful and brief.  I gave the traditional ‘maid’ of honor toast, following the best man, despite my desperation for sleep, I made it brief and not funny (couldn’t loose control now!).  By the time we were cleaning up and done Hesper and I were ready to collapse, infact I did on top of a large stack of folding tables. 

There is so much more to say but I think my readers can see by this brief synopsis that we had so much fun together, as we always do.  There are few people in this world who know us inside and out, that we can let our guard down with and just be ourselves, with no fear.

Chris, I am so glad you finally drug that girl to the alter, persistence pays!  May you both have many happy decades together.

March MADNESS!!!

This month has been so crazy, this is why I have not posted in quite some time!  This month we have had a funeral (sadly), 6 birthday celebrations, 1 potluck to organize, 2 different spring breaks, one 7th grade oceanography trip, book group at our house, TONS of hair to do, 2 weddings (out of state), one 14th anniversary (Randon and I’s), St. Patricks day dinner and Easter!  And all Mom’s know all of the planning, preparations, presents and shopping that go into all of these events. 

It will be a miracle if we exit March with some sanity, and money, left. 

“Fitzgerald”

Someday Charis is going to DIE that I recorded this…..

Charis calls her private place her ‘Fitzgerald’.  This started last month.  We were looking at my book of Europe pic.’s last night, there happen to be a lot of nude statues in the Louvre that are in my book.  Well she points at them and says “ooh, her Fitzgerald is showing”.  Helarious to me.  She also refers to her own parts in this way when she is in the bath.  I do not know where she got this but it just makes me laugh, especially because she knows the correct terminology for that spot.

Kelcie is Home!

Kelcie got home last night from her Oceanography trip to San Diego.  She had a wonderful time.  She took lots of pictures, I will have her load some and leave some of her experiences from that trip here.  She must have got no sleep on the trip because she is still sleeping this morning, it is 9am!  Today is the first day of her Spring Break.

So Sad

I have been so sad this week.  Trying to be chipper and cheerful for my kids and friends but today I can’t seem to cover the sadness up.  I think I just need to have a good cry while the kids are at school or something.

Anyway this is not at all about me or my sadness, and I do not want to exploit someone elses deep pain so I will not name names but, my sad week started when I heard that my step brother and his wife lost thier child on Monday night.  He was a triplett and his death was sudden and completely unexpected.  My heart cannot help but bleed for them as they loose thier only son, who would have celebrated his 2nd birthday this Sunday.  I cannot help but think of the gaping hole in thier family.  How the girls are going to miss thier brother every day of thier lives, they shared a womb!  How my step brother and his wife are going to answer for thier children questions that they cannot begin to explain for themselves. 

Our family has been praying for them but somehow it never makes the pain go away.  I know that they will see thier little boy again, and that they will raise him someday.  It is just the part where you have to endure this life without them that just kills me, the lonely ache.

Scott

Scott got 3 fish this weekend, 2 sharks, 1 angel fish.  I got a plant for the tank, I thought the fish ought to have one item of intrest to swim around in the tank.  Also, Sunny was with us and he bought a small fish to live in Scott’s tank too.  LOL!  I get such a kick out of those boys.  I tried to capture the little sharks on film but they were not cooperative subjects and so I got the plant and Sunny’s little addition, much more willing subjects. 

 Scott has been sick this whole weekend, bless his heart, and so he has been laying like this, watching his fish, until he falls to sleep.