Everything happens exactly as intended!

Reflecting on my married life, I often wonder if we got married too young. I remember

telling one of Pat’s friends the week he proposed, “If he’s planning on proposing, tell him

to forget it, I’m going to say no”. Pat and I met when we were 18, got engaged at 19,

and I was 21 when we got married. We had our first baby when I was 22 and our second

when I was 24. I love Pat with all my heart and sometimes we talk about how everything

came about and wonder if we still would have gotten married, or even stayed together for

that matter if we hadn’t felt forced to get married so young. We have been married for

almost 9 years now and believe me, we have definitely had our struggles. Often times

people tell us we “work well together” or we make a great team. Pat says he doesn’t like

that phrase or that saying, but personally I love when people tell us that. I feel like we

know each other better now than we did 12 years ago and we’ve grown closer through

the struggles that we’ve had. Being married is hard and it takes a lot of work, dedication,

and sacrifice. You ever heard of the 7 year itch? Yeah, that’s totally accurate. We had

been together for 7 years when we started having some serious problems. It was right

after Alaina was born. I felt trapped because I was at home all the time, babysitting

and being with my kids, which I am grateful I was able to do, while Pat was able to be

out working and talking to other adults and going to school. We started having major

problems, some that people know about and some that people don’t. Through that time

it was rough, I wasn’t sure we were going to make it. I have learned so much about love,

forgiveness, mercy, grace, sacrifice, and gratitude just from being married. I realize now

that even though I wasn’t sure if we got married too young, God was always there by our

side. He got us through the difficult times, taught us how to love each other more than

we ever imagined we could, and we have matured, forgiven, loved, and had more fun

together than we could have hoped for. I can’t imagine my life without Pat. He is such a

great father, a fabulous husband, friend, and coach. I am so happy he chose me and look

forward to spending the rest of our lives learning, loving, growing, and enjoying our time

together. I love you Pat, more than you could ever imagine.