Hindsight is pretty funny sometimes. At the end of 2008, after all
of our wedding planning and the wonderful day itself, Jack and I had
resolved to make 2009 the year of nothing-- just fun times, get settled
into our life in our condo and make no major plans. It turned out to
be a much more eventful year than I had thought it would be, but I
wouldn't trade it for anything.
After a mellow beginning to the
year, we were fortunate to be able to take our real honeymoon- one full
week in Maui to just spend together. Words can't do it justice, but it
was FANTASTIC! It is a trip we both look back on with the fondest of
memories and is a place that we hope to return to someday.
As
the year continued, we were able to celebrate the marriage of a few of
our very close friends. Wedding season started with a trip to Florida
with friends for Jen & Ken's beach wedding. What a spectacular
time and a unique wedding experience. A few weeks later was the
wedding of my high school best friend, Kristen, and her fiance, Jay.
It was so wonderful to stand as a bridesmaid for my good friend on this
important day just as she did for me a few months before. Other
friends of ours (Kate and Jared) got married the same day as Kristen
and Jay so we weren't able to attend their big day, but were thrilled
for them none the less. Later in the summer, we traveled to Detroit
for the wedding of Jack's college friend, Joe, and his fiance,
Jessica. As Jack and Joe had lived together for a while in Chicago, I
got to know both Joe and Jessica and was so excited to celebrate this
day with them.
We were also able to celebrate my parents' 40th
wedding anniversary- an event truly deserving of a celebration! My
brothers and I wanted to give them whatever kind of celebration they
wanted and they chose a small gathering at their house with just our
immediate family. With the help of my brothers, we planned a wonderful
day with much food and even more merriment. Later on in the fall, my
parents were kind enough to let me use their house for another
celebration. I decided to throw a birthday party for Jack. Although
it wasn't a milestone birthday (he was turning 29), I wanted to get in
a celebration that included both friends and family before the baby was
born. Since Jack and I both enjoy being kids ourselves at times, I
themed it "Let's be kids before we have a kid", so the day included
games outside, party favors for the little kids in attendance and just
a relaxing day for all to lounge outside and enjoy.
In and
amongst all the wedding excitement earlier on in the year, we
discovered that I was pregnant. Boy was it ever tough to keep that a
secrect until everything was confirmed with the doctor and we had made
it to the safe point of 12 weeks. With this news, our life felt like
it took quite a turn- a turn that was filled with both nerves and
excitement. We knew we had wanted a family together, but had planned
on a little more time where it was just the two of us. As the weeks
continued though, we both worked to understand that this may not have
been in our plan right away, but it clearly was in God's for us right
now and that if He felt we were ready, who were we to question it.
That certainly didn't mean that the nerves went away, but I can at
least say for me, that that thought always provided some comfort when
doubts surfaced. As the year continued, our focus started to switch
more and more towards prepping for baby's arrival- from shopping for a
crib, to cleaning out our second bedroom, baby registries, baby showers
and just our own mental preparation that our little family of 2 +
Bentley, would soon be 3 + Bentley.
As the year went on, we
made sure to enjoy our time together as much as we could, as we knew it
wouldn't be like this again for quite some time. We also tried to just
focus on us for a while, something which sounds really selfish as I
type it but that we knew we needed to do. I think we both wanted to
feel more settled in our life together in our condo before adding a
baby to the mix. We worked to go through boxes of old stuff, catch up
on all the home projects we had on the list for "sometime" and make our
condo a true home. I am thrilled to say that we closed out the year
having caught up on much of what we had wanted to do. Rooms got
repainted, stuff was gone through and we combined our two lives into
one.
An absolutely wonderful thing happened along the way
though. After we got married, I thought I couldn't love Jack much more
than I already did. I had felt I was the luckiest girl to have found a
man who held all the qualities I had looked for, who treated me so
wonderfully and was my best friend. But this past year, I discovered
what so many others have said- that I grew even more in love with Jack
than I thought I could. As we combined our lives, it felt so wonderful
to feel in sync with someone else all the time. I know that we both
got by for many years without each other, but in this past year, I
sometimes wonder how we did and I pray that I never have to know what
that feels like again, as I can't imagine life without him. I am sure
much of these feelings came from the emotional roller coaster of us
being pregnant with our first child and all that went along with it,
but how exciting also to know that the person we have created is going
to be a part of a love that is just so strong between the two of us.
2010 is sure to have many new experiences and adventures, the first of
which will likely be the birth of Baby Minster (whenever he or she
decides to arrive), but it feels good to know that we are ready for
whatever happens because we are in this together.
Happy New Year!
