Twenty Nine Years and Counting ....

Today was our 29th wedding anniversary. Gary had declared the cruise our 29th anniversary trip as an afterthought of purchasing the tickets - so I guess that was the time we celebrated ...

Today was pretty much like any Sunday - except Ryan was here ...

Lounged around in bed nursing my head cold until the last minute of having to start getting ready for church, headed to church and rushed home to do our 'We are chickens and don't dare bring our daughter home for fear she will turn into - well something evil and can completely rotate her head 360 degrees - not to mention the screaming, hitting and crying ...' and head off to take her out to dinner. Only this time Ryan was driving.

Picked her up, went out to dinner - complete with Jessie shouting every thought that came to her mind - she just will not speak in a normal tone - complete with multiple 'I need to pee' comments before I had her drug into the women's restroom ... so pretty typical for 'Dinner out with the Hurst's'.

Ryan was in rare form and kept us laughing. At one point when Gary had headed off to the restroom Ryan turned to me and said:

"I can't believe Dad didn't just walk away from all of us 10 years ago"

Lori: "I KNOW! Seriously ..."

Ryan: "Well, he liked Chance (our dog) ..."

Lori: "Maybe that was it ... but he could have just said 'I'm leaving y'all but want custody of the dog' ..."

Ryan: "True ..."

Gary returned and we told him what we were discussing. He without a pause, or even a hint of regret declared us all 'keepers'. Warm fuzzies in the Hurst family.

So on our twenty ninth anniversary - we went out to dinner as a family - complete with Jessie accosting multiple people - with big 'Hi!'s, giant bear hugs and then the "What's your name!?" all before we could rush over and unhinge her from some unsuspecting soul (which - one young lady was an ABSOLUTE ANGEL - saying "hi!" back like they were old friends meeting after a long absence, giving her a bear hug and asking Jessie her name - there is a special place in heaven for people like this), Jessie declaring every thought in her head at a full out yell - probably to the annoyance of the people at neighboring tables. Saving a baby from a full on accosting by Jessie, cutting off her Dr Pepper drinks at 3 (OK, cutting all of us off at 3 each ...) with Ryan's thoughts painted all over his face: "What the hell was I thinking saying I would come with?" and "I am SO glad I don't live at home anymore" but was an absolute gentleman with Jess and everyone else.

None of the above is any different than any other time we go out with Jessie - her main goal in life, it seems, is to make sure everyone on the planet has had a bear hug from her ... and she is really making progress!

So - twenty nine years after that unrecognizable young couple said 'I do' - we are pretty much an atypical dysfunctional family just trying to get by the best we can - and we are happy - can't ask for any more than that ...

After dinner and promises from Jessica (our waitress now for every time we have been to Chili's with Jessie - there is a SERIOUS place in heaven for her ...) for 'to go' drinks all round, Jessie surprisingly declared that she was 'ready to go back' and off we went.

Dropped her off and saw the strangest sight on the way out of RSS. Of course the Christmas Decorations were up and lit and families in their cars were touring - as usual ... but not as usual was the group filling a hot air balloon - in the pitch dark at 7:00 pm. We have no idea why - do people really go hot air ballooning at night? Doesn't seem so safe. The boys stopped and let me take photos - but without my 'real' camera and no tripod - that was an impossible task. All I got was this crappy photo:

They were having trouble controlling it since there was a gusty wind - it seemed completely bizarre - so just par for the course for our day ...

And then home - to moan and groan from eating too much, goof off on the computer and go to bed early ... which didn't seem to take for me - so up now blogging.

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Twenty nine years - I don't know what those two young'uns would have said had they seen the future ahead of them - some seriously ugly times were in store - and some serious heartbreak - but I love everything about my life and my family. I am happy. I am content. I am proud of my hubbie, and children. I love being their wife and mother. And truly? I don't think I would appreciate what I have now had I not gone through the darker times in my life - I believe in extremes - you don't know how good you have it - unless you have experienced the opposite.

And I can truly say ....




... I have it SO GOOD!!