(my grandparents)

Just a little slice of life here.  I am working on our bedroom, as I mentioned Monday, and I'm planning to hang a print out of a note Chip received from a friend.  As I was getting it ready to hang, I reflected a little on what was behind it, and I thought I'd share.

It was before we found out we were expecting Brigette, and Vivi was about 17 months old and we had settled into a pretty good routine.  Everything was just kind of normal.  I remember at that time driving in my car somewhere with Vivi and I was thinking about our life and it just kind of felt a bit dry.  Not bad, mind you, but it just felt like we had settled a bit.  Chip's work was going well, and he worked late some nights, and it seemed our days and evenings were predictable with Vivi, and you know, things were just routine.  Not many surprises, everything was just comfortable.  And it was comfortable with Chip and me.  We had been married for four and a half years and I thought, "well, I guess this is it.  We're out of the newlywed phase and just doing life now."

Rather than being terribly bothered by that thought, I just went with it.  I mean, things were just fine.  Just not spectacular, I guess.

Then, we decided to refinance our house at a much lower interest rate, and because that process involves a meeting with other adults and signing 18,000 pieces of paper, Chip and I asked my mom to come up for the day and keep Vivi.  We left the house around 9 a.m. on a Friday, and she said she would keep her all day, so we planned to stay out.  I dressed up.  I wore a skirt and carried a tiny purse (because when do I ever get to do that?) and dried my hair.  After the meeting, we realized we had an entire day with absolutely no plans.  And no nap schedule to adhere to.  And it felt so good.  I couldn't remember the last time I felt so free.  We stopped at a fancy-ish place and had a delightful lunch, then we went to the mall and Chip bought me a dress just because, then we caught a matinee movie because we could, and we rounded out the night with burgers and fries at a favorite restaurant where we played board games and talked about our dreams and just anything at all that came into our heads.  It was amazing.

The next morning, we had to run to a shop to pick up a mother's day gift for Chip's grandmother.  My mom was still in town, so she stayed with Vivi and we ran into this friend.  He's really more of an acquaintance in the creative world, and we don't know him super well, but he is one of those people who just knows how to throw out truth when he sees it.  He is discerning and encouraging, and it's kind of a rare gift to find.  It was a short little interaction, and then a couple of days later, Chip forwarded me the email he received.  This is part of what it said:

I read it and tears sprang up in my eyes.  I thought, "he's absolutely right!  We are in great love!  This is a fantastic adventure we are living together.  How could I ever possibly forget?"  How good to have someone reiterate it just when I needed to hear it.   I don't share this to say "look at us, we have it all together" because that isn't the point, and it's also not the case.  The point is we took a time out from everything to reconnect, and it obviously made a difference.  It recentered us, reconnected us.   I have saved that note with plans to hang it as a reminder when things feel dry, that we have a great love, and it's worth reading daily to really look at this precious person that swept me off my feet with fresh eyes unclouded by the daily stuff that dulls the senses.  Just so good.

And it's also a great reminder to speak truth into the lives of others when we see it.  Sometimes it's exactly what their heart needs to hear.