Saturday, April 13, 2013

Marriage 101

Yesterday, two of my favorite people got married.  My sister-in-law and my new brother-in-law, got married at the courthouse with their parents there to witness.  Very simple, inexpensive, and as always with a courthouse wedding, interesting.  Tonight will be the celebration......


                                 Brian, Grant, and I at our courthouse marriage.


Last night, as we dined with them and the rest of the family,  I got to thinking about some words of wisdom that I might be able to share with them.  Surely a woman that has been married twice has some sort of advice to give the young newlyweds, right??  Not so much....  It was hard to come up with something to say, so I just didn't.  Then I realized that no advice is perfect advice sometimes.  Of course, it could just be the lazy part of me thinking, BUT, we live in a world of  advice OVERLOAD!!  If they want advice, they can just Google it!! (insert a little giggle)  But I can honestly say, listening to every one's solicited, or as it is most of the time, unsolicited advice, can absolutely ruin a marriage.  So here are my TIPS (disclaimer: I am not a licensed professional in ANYTHING.  I am also a little crazy.  Take what I say with a grain of salt and a margarita, followed by a shot to tequila)

1. Marriage sometimes sucks.  There will be times you consider homicide. 

2. DO NOT commit homicide.

3. People that say they have a "perfect marriage" are liars.  There is no such    thing.  Stay away from those people.  They are delusional but probably well medicated.

4. Do not do anything to your spouse that you do not want done to you.  This is HUGE!  

5. HAVE FUN! Don't take anything in life to serious. Don't hold grudges. LAUGH. Forgive. Encourage. Respect. Don't make promises you can't keep. Stay on the same team. 

 Just like anything in life, it can be as hard, or as easy as you make it. The rest is up to you!!  Good luck! 


                           


Love, Kindness, Laughter, and Faith.
Meaghan

Monday, February 18, 2013

My excuse for not "doing".

Okay...I believe Facebook is starting to cause me a little bit of depression.  I see all these amazing things that so many of my friends are doing, like going to seminars on how to better take care of your special needs child, volunteering at all sorts of functions to help the community, fundraisers, art shows, meet and greets, soccer games, football games, dance classes, karate, and then finding time to work out and tell the world about all these things you accomplished in ONE day.... AFTER YOU GOT OFF WORK!!  

Now don't get me wrong, I try very hard, and am usually successful, at not comparing myself, or my children, to others. But every once in a while, I doubt my decision to live a, Take it as it comes, life.  Problem is, that's all I know.  Not to mention the fact that I am a total commitment phobe.  My other problem is that I love the time I have with my family.  With a blended family, it is very hard to schedule ANYTHING.  Especially when one of us (not me) has an ex-spouse that thrives on making our lives difficult.  

So we just roll....we have learned to take life as it comes, and try our best to make it awesome. And if that means playing in the dirt piles the idiot foundation guys left in front of our house, so be it.  If that means watching animated movies for at least the next 10 years, cool! (Of course, my dad watched cartoons until the day he died) 

We may not make it to Disney World, or a septic, petri dish cruise...But we will do our best to enjoy what we can and WILL do.  Yes, I am hoping this includes a tropical island trip at some point....BUT,  well, there's just no buts about that one. 

So far, everything we have set out to do, we have done. I DO as much as I can. Maybe when my life is in another season, I will be able to do more.  For now, it's day by day.  Because no one has promised me tomorrow! 







Love, Kindness, Laughter, and FAITH!
Meaghan

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Happy Place

Does anyone else go back to "the way things used to be" when things in the present, are just about to lead you to the nearest psych ward?  I know you are not supposed to live in the past, and I don't really think that's what I'm doing, rather, I think I am going to my Happy Place.

Now don't get me wrong, I love my life.  I love my family.  But sometimes I have to wonder when I became this person that I am. I will admit that I couldn't wait to grow up, I actually rushed the process, but there is very little that I would change.  So far, it has been one heck of a journey.

With that said, here is my Happy Place.... I was in my early 20's, two kids, living in Iowa, no money, driving an old WOOD PANELLED 1980ish minivan that was given to us by my husband at the time, parents.  Every weekend, it seemed, our friends would come from KC to spend a couple days.  And when I say friends, I mean 3 different couples and their small kids at that time.  None of us had any money, but we would schrounge up enough to get beer for the guys and margarita mix for the wives.  The men folk would hang around and do their thing and us girls would watch the kiddos, sit on the deck, and sip margaritas.  One time we decided to put highlights in each others hair and we all walked around with Wal-Mart bags on our heads.  We always had music on, as we couldn't afford cable.  We actually played BOARD GAMES, dominoes, and cards...We went on a few canoe trips when we could get enough money together, and our kids watched for the weekend. 

Those were some of the best memories of my life.  Because life was simple.  And yes, we had our not so great moments, usually due to the psycho of our little wives club, but what's a wives club without the star psycho, right?

Now, half of us are divorced and some, like me, very happily remarried.  We see each other at our kids football games and keep in touch via Facebook, but we have all grown up.  And admittedly, sometimes being a grown up, sucks!  But this entry is to give a little shout out to my first/only wives club.  You ladies were the best!  The memories I shared with you are irreplaceable and I will always consider you guys my family!  Thank you for being a part of my life.  Thank you for the good times.  I love you all....with one exception.....


Love, Kindness, Laughter, & Faith
Meaghan