i was 25. he was 30. we were married in june. big southern wedding with a plethora of bridesmaids and groomsmen. i thought we’d have forever. at 25 i guess i still felt immortal. being two strong personalities we let disagreements linger longer than we should have.
he was diagnosed with cancer 5 years after our big southern wedding and passed away within 9 months.
turns out we didn’t have forever after all. we weren’t going to sit side by side on the porch and watch grandkids run around in the back yard. but at 25 you think that’s a given.
i never prayed for a new husband. but in my heart i knew if i were blessed with another wonderful loving man i would do it differently.
well the lord blew me away & orchestrated many details and brought dan into my life. we married in the spring, a small southern garden wedding. this time the attendants were my three daughters.
i no longer took a single day for granted. i made sure the sun never went down on any disagreement, albeit rare this time. we’ve been married now for 14 years. we have a date every single week. we email and text each other multiple times a day. if anything, we flirt more with each other than we did 13 years ago.
if i could give you one piece of advice i would chose the following.
i had three children when i married that second time around. we had another daughter together within a couple years. our girls now range between 12 & 20 years old. i love my girls more than i ever imagined possible. but my hubby is my number one priority. i have watched friends of mine over the years let their marriages die a slow little death, or put on the back burner “until the kids are gone”.
there is nothing you can give your children to make them feel more loved and more secure than knowing you and your spouse love each other like crazy. they need to see you put down the dishrag when he walks through the door. they need to see you holding hands & winking at each other. they need to know that while sometimes you may disagree you guys are on the same team. always.
don’t allow the busy schedules or the ” but honey i need to finish her scrapbook before she turns two” take priority over each other.
we aren’t always promised forever. but if we’re given the chance to sit side by side rocking on the porch, watching the grandbabies, we’ll be holding hands & he’ll wink at me. i just know it!
-Paige Knudsen, simple thoughts
