Lucky Thirteen

Today is my anniversary. Galen and I got married thirteen years ago today.

Thanks!
[Assuming you, the reader, have just mentally said, "Happy Anniversary!"]

Nothing big. We've had a lot going on the past several weeks and decided to keep things very low-key this year.
[Now assuming you've just asked, "What are you doing to celebrate?"]

I decided this morning it might be kind of fun (...for ME, at least. Mildly irritating to others.) to update my Facebook and Twitter status every couple of hours or so throughout the day with "Thirteen years ago today, at THIS time, I was..."
I can't wait for 5:45. At 5:45 on September 21, 1996, the ceremony was over, we were pronounced "husband and wife" and began our recessional down the aisle, our first walk as a married couple. I will never forget that walk together. The ceremony preceding was beautiful and wonderful, but I admit, parts of it all are a bit hazy. I think adrenaline and nerves surrounding a big event will do that to you. But the reason our recessional walk together is so vivid, is because it was that moment when a loud, bright realization hit me - hard - and these words went through my entire being like an electric shock to my soul:
"What the hell did we just DO?!? We just got MARRIED!!!"

I can almost hear you laughing, confusedly.
I can also almost hear you saying to yourself some variation of "Well, no duh, Blakely, 'you just got married'... it was your WEDDING DAY!"
Yes, I get that. I get the whole "wedding means getting married" thing, believe me.
But, you know, despite the weeks of planning for it, talking about it, thinking about it, praying about it, pre-marital counselling, eating, breathing, sleeping it... it was THAT moment, walking back down the aisle on Galen's arm... a minister just moments before finalizing our status before God, sealing us together in the most sacred of ways... that it just HIT me: I really, truly and sincerely MARRIED. We did it. For the rest of my life, no matter what God puts before us, Galen and I are... married. Wow...

Then the next thought that ran through my head was something along the lines of, "Is Galen INSANE?!?" Occasionally I still ask myself that question... poor guy.

That was a stunning realization, in the very truest sense of the words. I was joyful for it then, and I can tell you from every fiber of my being, I'm even more joyful for it all now. He was my best friend then and he most certainly still is now. I'm sometimes amazed that I can still make him laugh after 24/7/13yrs together. Can't he just predict everything I'm going to say, anymore? Doesn't he know me well enough to be bored by now? I now know what the old cliche means, "I love him more now than the day we got married." He's a good man. He's my gift, undeserved, and once upon a time, un-looked for. I not only love him, I like him, too.

Happy anniversary, Galen!

More Reece Humor

OK, OK, I do have to share this ONE story, before I log off for now...

Last Friday, I went to pick the kids up from school. As we were walking to the car, Reece pulled out a toy cell phone he'd snuck into his book bag, and started to "take a call."
He looked at the screen.
"It's my girlfriend," he sighed, slightly annoyed.
He flipped open the phone with mastery level flipping skills, to answer this pestering call from his imaginary girlfriend. The following is what I hear:
"Yeah, hi, babe. How are you?"
Pause.
"Mmm. OK."
Pause.
"Yeah. Love you, too. See you later."
Snap.
Call ended.
[sigh] "She just bugs me."

Now I've gotten pretty good, I think, at stifling laughter in certain occasions, to avoid angering, embarrassing or irritating my children.
But there are times... when it is nearly impossible... not to bust right out... in side-clutching hilarity.
This episode was most certainly one of those times.

Let's Do the Time Warp Again!

It HAS been a time warp. Just two postings after promising myself to keep this blog up on a more consistent basis, I am back after an unintentional hiatus. It was June five minutes ago, I swear. And now it's early September. I don't remember seeing the cosmic worm hole I obviously fell into, transporting me instantly two and a half months in the future. All I know is, I was in my kitchen in Ottawa on a beautiful June day, blogging away about Galen leaving his job in a matter of mere days... and NOW I'm sitting in my den in Lindsborg on a beautiful September afternoon, blogging about how all of those aforementioned plans went to pot.

Although, on second thought... I don't think I can get into the past two and half months in just a few paragraphs. It wouldn't be fair to a potential reader to REALLY get into what happened. I can give more Reader's Digest Condensed Versions, fer sher. Galen's job in Ottawa ended, not at the end of June, but the end of July. The administration kicked up a huge fuss over his announcement in June to take the lay-off and leave, and their reaction was to dangle a severance package over his head to bleed out one more month of work from him.
While all of this was going on, Galen interviewed here in Lindsborg. They loved him, he loved them, and a new job opportunity was born. To the end point - we loaded up the truck and we moved to The 'Borg. (You can sing that sentence to "The Beverly Hillbillies" if you want. We have.) And it's going okay. It's a whole new world of opportunity. Some day I might just spew forth on my continuous astonishment over Life's twists and turns. I never thought I'd live in a town this size. But it's a nice town. We've been impressed with everything. And we've been blessed. More details will emerge, I've no doubt, over the ensuing months of reflection and analysis. Just bear with me.

The individual Bunning updates I think I'll save for another blog. I have a small person here needing my attention, anyway.

To wrap up... watch out for Worm Holes.

Turn the page, end the chapter, close the book...???

The latest update from the "Galen Job Watch."
Galen and the rest of the Admissions counsellors at OU are for all intents and purposes laid off. They have been encouraged to apply for the new "field representative" positions the university is moving to in July, but Galen feels this is God's way of showing him out of his current situation. Galen has decided not to apply for further employment at OU. His last day is June 26.

This was not a decision made lightly or hastily. We both fully appreciate the risk being taken, of leaving employment, stepping into a recession-burdened economy, without having anything else lined up. While staying at OU until he has another job makes a lot of sense in many ways, it also means precious little time to devote to actually finding the new position, which the past few months have already shown Galen. Plus, to be frank, he just can't take it anymore. It's time to go.

Galen honestly and truly believes God's Hand is in this step he's taking. I have seen him more at peace the past couple of days than I've seen him be in the past few months. I trust him, and I trust Him, too. God will use this time for His glory, one way or another. Galen has already sent out about half-a-dozen resumes around the country and has a list of about twenty more places to send some to. He is networking as much as he possibly can. We are holding ourselves open to any and every possibility. We've even looked into foreign missions, which admittedly, I'm more excited about than he is right now. :-)

But, all I can conclude with is, the Lord will provide. We'll see what happens. We very much appreciate any prayers and support right now. If you want to pray for anything immediate and specific, there is one job in particular Galen has applied for which he'd VERY much like to get, but they haven't called him back for an interview yet.

We're sad. We're hopeful. We're anxious. We're praising. I'm not sure right now, sitting here today what the right analogy is for this. Life is too vast a tale, constantly in the rough draft-writing stage, to fully realize whether we are are turning another page, ending a chapter, or closing an entire volume. I think only hindsight will provide that INsight.

Updates

I know, I know, I know...
I've looked at a calendar recently.
It's June. This is my first blog in two months.
Don't start. I know.
Excuses? I have none. I just simply kept putting this off. Things have been going on. (And how.) Occasionally the thought would zip across my wee little brain, "I need to update the blog." And then, I'd go do something else.
Although I guess technically, I do have ONE excuse: For about two weeks our computer crashed, and even if I completely devoted every ounce of my mind, strength and will to logging on and blogging... I couldn't have.
On second thought, though, if THAT determined, I could have borrowed someone else's computer, or gone to the library or something.
Hmmm...
OK, I guess I don't have any excuse.
Sorry.

For what it's worth, I'm back. Ta-da.

You're HOW old, again?

And so it starts:

The other day we were talking about plans for the month of April, and I turned to my youngest son, who is celebrating his sixth birthday in April, and asked him, "What do you want to do for your birthday?"
Without missing a beat, he replies, "A party. And I want GIRLS to be there, Mom."

***

Our middle son recently got KU-blue highlights in his hair. He's been wanting to do this for months now. Galen's and my philosophy in this realm is rather relaxed. "So long as you're clean and covered, we're happy." So, during Spring Break, off we went to my hair-person, Lou, and she did a great job. As we walk in the door coming home from the appointment, my oldest son immediately starts in on teasing and chiding his younger brother about his hair, expecting a rise out of him. AJ very calmly waits for a break in Kagen's ramble, and says almost under his breath, "Well, the girls dig me no matter what my hair looks like."
Kagen hasn't made mention of AJ's hair since.

***

This last one isn't funny, so much as it was odd, and I feel compelled to share it.
About a month ago, Kagen went to a Christian concert with our church's youth group, and got home rather late at night. An hour after he came home and we all went to bed, the phone rang. Thinking it was someone from church, informing us of a wallet or MP3 player Kagen had left behind or something, I answered the phone.
It was a girl I didn't recognize, asking for Kagen.
Still trying to rise out of my sleep-induced stupor, I told his cute young thing very politely, "Kagen is not available right now. Can you call back *in the morning*?" We exchanged good-byes and I hung up. I'm just a cool Mom that way.
It wasn't until I plopped myself back in bed that it really hit me what had just happened. Not only had a GIRL called... but called at 1:00am to talk with my son about something. What the flip? Is she SERIOUS?
My musings were short-lived, as that a mere fifteen minutes later, the phone rang again.
The time for coolness is over.
I picked up the phone and said the following: "Darlin' it is one o'clock in the morning. People are sleeping in the world right now. Please do not call again until morning." And I hung up on her.
Yes, I told Kagen about it the next morning. He reacted with a decent mix of laughter and embarrassment. I got the distinct impression I had not beleagured a budding romance or anything. But my Cool Mom peg did slide down a notch or two.
Casualties of love and war, apparently.

***

A Parallel Universe

I'm thirty-four, for your information.
This, in and of itself, is no big deal to me. I do not delude myself about aging, or getting older, or maturing, or whatever you want to call it. I realize full well, that, no matter what my oldest son says, I'm still very young in life. I'm over it, trust me.
But what does get to me about being thrity-four is how vastly different my life is now at this age, than what I had once envisioned for myself looking ahead to this age. I do not so much long for the life I had once idealized for myself, as it's just so... DIFFERENT from what I thought it would be. Robert Frost's poem about the road less travelled has been hitting me between the eyes the past few birthdays.
See, what was SUPPOSED to happen at the age of thirty-four was this: Two B.A.'s in music and music education under my hat, in addition to a master's degree from a conservatory as yet unnamed. I would have left my educational pursuits after my master's degree and failed on the professional circuit for a couple of years, but nonetheless gleaning valuable life-long experience and wisdom from the myriad of big cities, snooty orhcestras, and gruelling auditions I will have willingly walked myself into. THEN, I was going to take on teaching at a private studio or university. Believe it or not, I even had envisioned going from a university teaching position to directing a high school vocal program. Somewhere in my late twenties, I would meet Mr. Right and consdier getting married after the age of thirty. Somewhere around the age of thrity-five, we might possibly consider having a child. Maybe two. Depends. Before Kagen was born, I had no idea how I'd do around small children. Older kids, no problem. But younger ones??? Well...
Oh, how vastly different life has turned out! As in, laughably so! Again, with what I hope is a genuine acceptance and contentment of God's will in my life, and not a painful facade veiling a deep-seated quiet desperation, I do not long for what I once thought would be. Really. I have been placed where I am unmistakenly by the Author of Life, and so much of my life as it is NOW is so blessed with God's love and grace, how can I long for anything else? Different, but not inferior in anyway.
I spent my thirty-fourth birthday last Saturday, not thinking about maybe having a child and hashing out the pros, cons, whys and wherefores with my husband of a couple of years, but I DID spend it with my husband of 12.5 years, and our four children at a park, having a picnic, where we got messy, dirty, wind-swept and worn out with the fun.
God can be SO obvious sometimes, can't He?