Happy Anniversary

Sean and I recently celebrated our fourteenth wedding anniversary.  Our actual wedding date is at the end of summer, but life always seems so crazy with birthdays, vacations, and getting ready for school that we have not had luck squeezing in more than dinner in the week or two surrounding our actual wedding date.  So we’ve taken to celebrating our marriage at different points throughout the year.  For instance, we celebrate the day we got engaged with flowers and reminiscing.  We celebrate our first real getaway that happened with Djeryd was two by trying to head over to the coast for few days in March each year.  But this year we actually took a trip to mark our wedding anniversary, even though it was a good two months after the fact (life is all about flexibility, right?).

 

We wanted to go somewhere that invited activities other than shopping (the outlet malls at the beach are a little too enticing sometimes).  We found a little house at a resort with swimming, biking, museums, all sorts of fun stuff.  Above is a picture of our little house, which was perfect.  We were within walking distance of the grocery store and restaurants and gift shopping (one does have to fit that in), even a library.

We cooked most of our food because of dietary restrictions.  It was fine because we really enjoy cooking together and we don’t usually get to cook together with four kids clamoring for our attention.  We did go to one little café where I ordered a salad (the only gluten-free/dairy-free item on the menu).  It came with bread which I gave to Sean in exchange for his potato chips.  It was delicious!  ;>

Unfortunately, we eventually had to go home.  Honestly, it took about two days to get all the stress out of my system and just relax, we had one really fun day and then it was time to go home.  I am ashamed to admit it, but it took me three-and-a-half days to actually be happy to be back home. And I know I should just be grateful I got to go anywhere for any amount of time because not everyone has that opportunity, but I was still grumpy for it to all be over without my permission.

The drive home was gorgeous and we made several stops in an effort to soak up every last bit of the time away.  I was actually giddy the whole way home to be surrounded by such incredible beauty.  I kept making Sean stop the car so I could take pictures of trees and bushes and creeks.

The very best part of our trip was my anxiety was virtually non-existent.  I don’t usually talk about my anxiety issues because it’s really personal, but I know that lots of people deal with anxiety on a daily basis.  So here is my teeny bit of anxiety advice: try eliminating dairy and gluten.  Just try it for a few weeks, then reintroduce one thing (for me it was bread) for three days and then see if your symptoms return (which mine did, but it took a few days).  I have been battling this for five-and-a-half years.  This was the first trip in five-and-a-half years that I was not a wreck.  The first trip I could actually pack for without curling up in a little ball on the bed saying (and sometimes crying) “I don’t want to go. Please don’t make me go.”  The first trip where I actually prepared food and cleaned up food and helped pack everything up to go back home.  Seriously, it was a miracle.  I just share this little bit in the hopes that it might help someone, somewhere.