This day’s blog is predictable. I never forget 9th May…it’s pretty much written in my marriage DNA. It’s not our wedding anniversary, but our engagement anniversary. I can just pick a 9th May blog and find something I’ve written about our anniversary. I chose one from a few years ago and changed it to 33.
9th May 1986 – the last and the happiest day of my single life – it changed me from single to attached.
The 9th May always strikes a happy note in my heart. It’s the day I got engaged. Crazy that that was 33 years ago today.
I’ve been wearing the ring for more than 3 decades. It still fits. The gold has worn away a bit and the clasps probably need some reinforcement, but it pretty much hasn’t changed.
This was in 2011 when we celebrated being engaged for 25 years. Young!
I love to celebrate these days. They are days of remembrance. Engaged for 33 years! Mike always laughs at me. For him counting is usually related to waiting. He counted how long before he retired. He tells me the moment I arrived on the scene his term of imprisonment in the jail of singleness was over. He was free. He stopped counting. 1 year, 15 years, 18, 20 26, 30,33. It makes no difference, he says, it’s all happiness and freedom!
Besides, I guess, the formal agreement to get married ended when we did. When I got the wedding band (which I took off today, so I could enjoy the warm fuzzy “I’m engaged” feeling) the agreement was sealed.
I am grateful and appreciative that I could hang out with the same guy for 33 years, marry him and have the Lord sustain us for all this time. What a blessing. Our wedding was exactly 3 months after our engagement. We went into wedding preparation overdrive and got married on 9th August 1986.
As Mike and I were talking the other day about our marriage, we concluded that the longer we have been together, the more alike we have become. When we first married, we were so very different that it was very noticeable. I am sure somewhere along the line, I have listed all our differences. But as the years have passed, we seem to have blended. The other thing that has happened over the last many years is that we have become more patient and accepting of one another. We’ve learned to keep our mouths shut and allowed each other more freedom to do what we want to do. We have learned to serve the other. These things make all the difference to our happiness. These days we are spending a lot more time together, making the relationship all the sweeter.
Each day is to be celebrated and appreciated. One of my favourite memories. 2011 on the mountain above Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland
There are crazy things that happen in life and they happen in ours too. We inadvertently transferred (rather a large) sum of money into the wrong account and now it is sitting in an FNB suspense account. To unravel that took a bit of time this morning.
Daily we are also trying to wrap up the final 4 no objection signatures but one of them is not going to be easy. He’s being robbed of some view and some sunshine and is feeling very bruised at the thought. We feel so bad for him, because that’s what thing we can do very little about. The objection letter is for a whole lot of other things but not the height nor the position of the house. We completely abide by Council rules on that score. We are thinking that perhaps we can try to change the angle of the roof – that may just allow the sun to shine into his window for a little longer. Today, I finally heard from the owners of the house opposite right. They live in the UAE. They will call me they said. The other people we haven’t been able to speak to live opposite left. They live there but have not been home. Today I put a note in their post box. The list of neighbours we got from the Council does not include an email address for them. So although we didn’t get any more signatures, we did make progress with the departures today. Another little couple of steps forward.
I worked for 8 hours. AND one of my teachers got placed. I’ve placed 3 this month. (It’s a new part of my job…taking the placement process from start to finish).
Joshua 1:8
Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
These are the days.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂
Gym:
I tried to go to gym but wasn’t successful. Mike and I did a 4.3km jawk in the morning. I showered and then got into my cycling kit and was planning on going to gym for a cycle but then work took over and I sat at my desk in my cycling shorts with freezing cold legs for most of the day! We also walked to the shops this evening, so ended up with more than 12000 steps on my watch.
Braces:
Day 177