Our Fairytale: Part 2

Summer 2008 with Liz and Will, our niece and nephew
As I mentioned Monday I am using my blog to chronicle my relationship with Clay from the beginning. I'm a romantic and love to hear the story of a couple. I wish I knew more about how my grandparents met and the things they did and felt in the beginning of their relationships, the fun dates they went on... and the not-so-fun bumps in the road. Being the packrat sap I am, I fully intend to turn this into a book or something to give our kids.


Iron Bowl/Thanksgiving 2008 with the nephews and niece
Clay and I have discussed, in length, about the things we want our kids to learn. It wasn't until I started this series that I considered one more lesson. As a girl, I grew up on Disney movies and thought love meant finding a handsome man with a chiseled jaw and riding off into the sunset, completely happy and head-over-heels, to a perfect life. I'm blessed because I do have a handsome prince with a chiseled jaw, but Disney totally lied! Marriage and even dating relationships are not perfect. Somewhere in that "happily ever after," you encounter arguments, petty disagreements and life's ugly twists and turns. You experience immaturity, both in your spouse (or boyfriend) and yourself.

I want our children to believe in a "happily ever after." In Jeremiah 29:11, God promises that His Plan is to give us all a hope and a future, so yes, I believe He wants that for all of us. I also want my children to understand that "happily ever after" comes with curve balls. Clay and I have already agreed that our children will not see us fight, but I think they should know (at some point, not when they're toddlers or anything) that our relationship has had its share of icky days. I also want them to understand that relationships take work and obstacles can be overcome when two people work together toward one goal.
In July 2008, we were thrown our first curve ball. I won't go into detail, but I'll admit it started with something I did. I was ridiculously immature and wasn't quite ready for a relationship of this magnitude. The next year and a half was an emotional roller coaster: we wanted to be together and forced our relationship to work. When we really tried, we had a lot of good times, but there were times when we were miserable. We broke up and got back together. We fought... and screamed... A LOT. We hurt each other and unfortunately, sometimes it was on purpose. We lost all trust in each other and were suspicious of everything the other person did. It was TERRIBLE.


Christmas 2008
In summer '09, things began to look up. In the fall, they went south again. We eventually broke up that November and I said multiple times I was never dating him again. He pseudo-dated someone else and I went on one date. I decided to spend my time nurturing my relationship with God and believing He had a plan to make this work out for my good.

On New Years Eve, I was planning to move and was at the new apartment with my soon-to-be roomie. Clay and I were texting and he invited me to come out hang out. Since Kelly was asleep on the couch and I had nothing there to spend the night, I went. We talked a lot about nothing in particular. He asked if I had seen the Disney/Pixar movie "Up" and when I replied that I had not, he told me I should watch it because the little girl reminded him of me. Little did I know that the movie had a huge effect on him and would eventually lead to a BIG CHANGE.
I went home that night feeling so confused. Almost immediately, we began texting frequently and within two weeks, were hanging out again. What can I say? I'm a sucker for those baby blues...

Stay tuned for more!