MySpace, Appendectomy, and Wedded Bliss

Today Ned and I celebrate three years of marriage. I'm not really one to write a sappy love post on our anniversary, or ever. I love Ned. Ned loves me. We've been through good times and challenging times just like any other couple. We balance each other fairly well. He's laid-back and calm. I'm a very scheduled worrier. He has a zillion hobbies and likes to be out and about doing something. I usually like to be home. I could go on and on, but the point is we've meshed our two lifestyles fairly well, probably rubbed off on each other in various ways, and I haven't killed him yet. That's a successful three years!

I know there are people reading who don't know me well, so I thought I would share a little history. Ned and I met via MySpace through some mutual friends. God placed Ned in my life's pathway at just the right time. Months before, I was investing in the wrong relationship and would have paid no attention to Ned's email. Oprah says God begins speaking to you in a whisper, and by June 2006 when Ned and I became acquainted, God has raised his voice. Ned and I went to the Tobacco Company on our first date in early July. He cooked me dinner the next night, so I guess the first date was a success.

We became engaged the following March on the beach in Sandbridge. I decided against the Christmas wedding I had been thinking about and strategically planned our wedding for the Saturday after my spring break so that I would have the week before the wedding free of school and stress. We all know that the bride usually gets the most attention in wedding affairs, and Ned decided he was not one to be left in the shadows. On Easter Sunday, 6 days before our wedding, Ned had his appendix removed. So, instead of resting before the big day, tending to final details, and enjoying my last week at home, I was nursing Ned back to health. I was amazingly calm until Ned left the rehearsal dinner in a good deal of pain.

March 29, 2008 dawned cloudy, cold, and filled with some sleet. However, with the help of some good pain medication, Ned was feeling good. I was calm, things went off without a hitch (as far as I know), and it was one of the best days of my life. My people and Ned's people mixed well, and it was quite the party.

It's been a busy three years, and we now balance our roles as husband and wife with the roles of Mama and Daddy. My mother says that my pediatrician used to tell her that you have your husband before your children, and that relationship must remain first, so we squeeze in TV time, dinners out, and occasional weekends away. We're not glamorous jet-setters and our 80-year-old neighbors routinely come in after we're in bed, but we're right where we want to be.