Yearbooks. You know, the ones your kids school puts out for your kids? It is that time, again! Our school provides yearbooks as part of our tuition. Yearbooks are broken down by “school” (meaning, lower, middle and upper schools) instead of an all-school yearbook. One of the fun things our school does is offer “ads” for the yearbook. For Silas, we put one in his as he transitioned out of 5th grade (from Lower to Middle) and we are doing the same for Elysha as she moves from Lower to Middle. We’re also doing one for Silas this year as he transitions from Middle to Upper. (Y’all, stop. My boy is going to be a FRESHMAN next year. Pause life, please.)

I was reviewing some of the pictures this year to put in them and we opted for just their name this year with a bunch of photos that happened during that time in the “section” of school they were in. It was so meaningful this year because there were some super fun pictures in there and some pictures that really made Richard and I smile and laugh as we looked at them. Each picture held some great memories of the kids. (See the end of this post for those images.)

It was fun to go through these because I got to really reflect on the events that took place around these pictures. Friends they have made, places they have been, outfits they wore, silly faces they made and remembering the fights to just GET the picture, proud moments, first moments, and moments I can now look back on and be so grateful God has given me the gift of life.

Our life is psychotic. Listen, I don’t even try to hide the crazy sometimes.

If you’ve never heard the story of how Richard and I met, it’s funny that we’re even married some days. We were the most unlikely couple. We met in band in high school (didn’t start dating until a year and half after we graduated) and through the 13 years we were together before I “forced him into marriage” (story for another day), we had a tremendous amount of highs and lows. Through that, we finally managed to put ourselves aside and put God first and have two amazing kids out of it.

Marriage has not been without challenges. Most days, I question my sanity and his ability to be a human. I wonder day to day some times if we’ll make it long enough to eat dinner together without trying to lock the other one out of the house. I wonder if my kids will survive and know how to cook a meal (actually, I worry more about that for Silas…Elysha has ramen mastered.). I wonder if Elysha will ever learn how to brush her own hair and have it tangle free. I am pretty sure neither of them know how to change sheets and I’m quite sure neither one of them could hang a shirt the first time without doing it over 10 times. Silas may never master cleaning a toilet and Elysha will likely never own animals despite how much she loves them because cleaning up after anything makes her gag.

Then, there’s marriage. Y’all. Richard and I are blessed with our strong, dominant, independent personalities. But that can be a curse. The cold weather was coming in the other day and the wind was LEGIT ripping through my bones. I had to take Silas to lessons and offered to fill up the gas cans while I was out. I don’t know why I did. Moment of no brain, I guess. I can’t ever open those stupid gas cans. Went to fill them up, got so freaking MAD at how cold it was and I couldn’t feel my fingers that I put the gas cans back up, drove to Taco Bell and warmed up, got back out in the parking lot, unscrewed 3 of the 4 cans out of sheer anger and determination to not fail and then got even more blistered that I knew that meant I had to fill them up again. Went back to the gas station, filled them up, pissed as a goat that I couldn’t tighten them and cussed at the gas cans and my son the whole time because it was 150 below zero and the wind was blowing at hurricane speed and I couldn’t figure out why my husband didn’t have easy open cans, gloves, and all the things I would need. Nevermind that I offered. No, now I was just pissed off and determined to not let a gas can and a damn gust of wind win.

Of course, after my victory, called Richard and his first response? “Why are you messing with that? You should have been home an hour ago.”

<Cue the red hair demon inside me.>

What. The. Actual. @@$$%^!?

I very curtly reminded him to tread thin and not push me, that I had just won a huge victory over 4 small plastic bins and a wind gust and I was more annoyed (and now frozen) than a bull with his ying yang tied up in a bucking contest.

Anyway, marriage is fun.

My point though of this post is really to remind you to take some time and go through photos. Get IN photos. It was hard to find pictures of me and the kids or me and Richard sometimes. Having a “second chance” at life means a lot more to me. Get in the photos. Take more photos. Take the silly face ones. Share the silly face ones. Your life doesn’t need to be Pinterest perfect. People can relate to you more when you’re a human versus some magazine model. You make yourself unrelatable and unfriendly when you’re all dolled up in your pretty tea dress or perfect clothing and perfect makeup. That is but a shell of who you are. Be true to who you are.

God gives us these moments to make memories and to make an impact. Enjoy the ones. All of them. The hard ones. The fun ones. Share them all. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It’s okay to share the hard times (even the gas can ones). Someone out there can relate. They may not share it, but they have those moments, too.

In the meantime, enjoy the pictures of the kids! I am beyond thankful for technology and the way it can preserve these moments for us. I am thankful for an incredible husband that loves me (and my stupid moments) and forgives my faults.