Sweet Sixteen

Sean and I recently celebrated our sixteenth wedding anniversary!  And what a sweet sixteen years it has been.  When I take into account all the ups and downs and everything in between, I am amazed at how the goodness and loveliness outweighs the sad and difficult times.

We were fortunate enough to spend a few days in a cabin right on the Sandy River.  It was gorgeous!  The cabin was perfectly sized and very comfortable.  And the views could not be beat.

My favorite spot was sitting in the hot tub, surrounded by a garden of lush foliage, listening to the river rush by.  It was so peaceful and so perfect.  And if the water wasn’t so hot that I felt like I was going to pass out after fifteen minutes, I am not sure I would have ever gotten out.

Just about every vacation I ask Sean if there’s room for my sewing machine because I have dreams of stitching up amazing creations while I’m away from my everyday cares.  Sometimes there’s room and sometimes there isn’t.  And even if there is room, I don’t always get around to pulling it out of the car to actually make anything.  Not so on this trip!  We watched Project Runway the first night (We do not have television at home, so Project Runway is something I only indulge in on vacations.  And in all truthfulness I watched PR while Sean clicked and clacked away beside me on his laptop dreaming up some brilliant new program.).  It was the kick in the pants I needed to spend the entire next day sewing jammies for Anna.  I honestly cannot remember the last time I have been able to spend a whole day sewing.  Even when I was working on Anna’s baptism dress in April, I had a brand new baby and four other little kids that needed their mommy off and on all day long, so the dress had to be worked on thirty minutes here and thirty minutes there.  I only sewed the one day, and that was enough, but it was so fun.

We went on lots of walks and visited the library (we sort of collect libraries on vacation) and watched a lot of football and stared at lots of leaves and changed lots of diapers (Elle’s still too little to leave for that long).  The mountains and river were the perfect background, the leaves trying to decide if it really is fall were beautiful, the time together was so needed. 

When Sean picked up the keys on our first day, the lady at the desk was trying to be all nice and conversational, talking about the reason for our trip.  Sean just kept saying (sort of hysterically), “We’re running away!  We left all of our kids and we’re running away!”  I think he sort of scared the poor woman.  But when he dropped off the keys she commented on how relaxed he looked and that the trip must have done its job. Even so, as we were packing up Sean kept saying, “I could use a few more days.”  I just think we’re crazy lucky we got any of it.

In the very, very early years of our marriage, Sean and I decided to set aside a certain amount of money each month for vacations.  It has made taking vacations completely guilt-free.  We never worry about the money because it has been set aside through out the year(s).  And that money is sacred!  We don’t borrow from it or touch it for anything else.  That has been a great decision that has blessed our family over and over.  It helps keep our family fun and our marriage strong, and I’m so grateful we’ve stuck to it.