10 Years

On October 19, 2002 I married my best friend.  With a little fear and lots of love I said, "I do."    Now, ten years later, the love remains and the fear is gone - replaced by knowing and trust.  I never imagined knowing a person as well as I know Tom.  And yet, I know there's still more to uncover and discover.

Tom has been, and strives to be, my spiritual leader like I only dreamed a husband could be.  He has encouraged me and challenged me in so many ways.  And I him.  We know neither one is perfect.  We've learned (and are still learning) how to discuss the sin in our lives without pride and anger so that we can change and be better...for us and for our kids.

We've had our share of ups and downs...times when we loved each other so much nothing else mattered; times when we were so mad at each other we/I  thought there was no hope.

We've had times that stretched our faith and character.  Tom has been my strength when I had none.  He has  patiently led me back to find my true hope and foundation in Jesus Christ and His word.

By God's grace we've changed and grown in our walk with Him and in our own personal maturity.  

It's been an amazing adventure so far!

***

Which all brings me to how my wonderful honey decided to celebrate our 10th year anniversary.  A couple of months ago he said that we should probably just have my parents watch the kids for a night while we went to a nice hotel in someplace like Scottsdale or Sedona - which I was perfectly fine with.  After I did a brief internet search on places in the Phoenix area that would make a nice getaway, Tom told me that he'd handle looking into where to go - which, again, was fine with me.

About two weeks ago I found out that all the arrangements were made and we would leave Flagstaff Thursday night to go to Phoenix, not our typical Friday go-to-Phoenix-after-Tom-gets-off-work day. Oh...he took Friday off. We must be staying out two nights.  Hmmm...very fun.

Now, I must say that in all the years that I've known Tom, he has not been a good liar or keeper of surprises.  He's a man whose heart seeks the truth which makes it hard for him to be sneaky.  Because everything seemed fairly normal, I never imagined that there was something sneaky going on.  Boy was I wrong!

Wednesday morning (October 17th) before heading off to work, Tom tells me that we won't be back home until the following Tuesday night.  He thought I should know so that I could make school and house arrangements.  What!?!  Five days!  Really!  What is he up to?

I resisted the urged to ask more questions.  I knew then that his little secret wasn't so little anymore and I didn't want to ruin the surprise.

Wednesday night over dinner, knowing that I needed to start packing, I asked if I needed to be concerned about 3oz containers of liquid.  I thought for sure he would say not to worry about that, but...  He got this look on his face.  That look of being caught.  He smiled slightly and tried to come up with a neutral answer that would still have me pack appropriately.  Oh man!  What is he up to?  We're getting on a plane. Where the heck is he taking me?

That night after putting the kids to bed, I broke down a little.  My mama's heart started to worry about the kids, being away from them, possibly far away from them...  What if...?  Tom held me and reassured me that  the kids would be fine and that we needed some "us" time.  I agreed and started letting my mind wander to what fun stuff Tom had planned for us.

Thursday morning before heading off to work Tom informed me that we would be dropping the kids off at my parents' house and leaving no later than 8:30pm that night.  He also asked me, if I had time, to put some fun driving music on the mp3 player.  Wow!  Tonight.  Where are we heading to on a red-eye flight?  And driving music? I thought we were flying.

Thursday was a blur of packing four little children, myself, setting the house in order, and attending a memorial service for our good friend and neighbor Bob Cross who had passed away the week before.  Once we got to my parents' house Tom hid himself in the computer room while I played with and read to the kids.  Around 8pm Tom comes out and plays with the kids for a bit before announcing that we would be leaving in 15 minutes; my dad was taking us to the airport.

My heart was a mix of emotions - excitement for the coming time away together and sadness for leaving my little ones behind.  We hugged and kissed the kids and headed for the airport.

At the airport, Tom checked us in and handed me my ticket.  San Diego.  We were heading to San Diego on the red-eye.  Very fun.  Tom told me that I would have a place to lay my head by 1am.  No problem, we're total night owls anyway.

Although Tom kept kidding me that it'd be a mat at a camp ground or something.  I was pretty sure he was joking.







While waiting at the airport, Tom grabbed his carry-on bag and said he's be right back.  Here's the man I started my vacation with and the man that came back: There's just something nice about a clean shaven face - so kissable!


There were more surprises along the way, but I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story (with little commentaries here and there).  Tom did a fantastic job of planning for everything. He's such a great guy and  I'm such a lucky girl!!  I felt like a queen!

If you're not interested in looking at the boring neighbor's vacation slide show, look no further:).  I'll give you a quick synopsis: we had tons of fun flying down the road with some great '80's rock blaring, ate wonderful food, drank some really nice wine, swam with sea lions, had a bbq on the beach, and so much more.  It was an amazing adventure!  Thank you my love!!

Why the long face?
My best impression of a flower blooming.
Tom left our first morning at the hotel to "get the car".  He came back with a 2012 Chevrolet Camaro convertible.  Wow!

Yeah, you're the coolest!




























Ponte Family Vineyard.

Maybe just one too many.














Just in case you're trapped in the trunk, this is how you get out.
Very important stuff!



Yeah, I'm so cool.  Ha, ha, ha!


Tom's new friend at Oceanside.
Snorkeling with the sea lions at La Jolla.





























Gotta have one picture with my tongue out - it's tradition.


Yummy steak and crab legs for the grilling.






























The end.

Comments

Buster's Mom said…
Looks like a lot of fun! Did you touch a sea lion?

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