You hear people talk about the so-called Golden Years - you know, as if that is when life gets sweet.
Not me.
I'm not fooled. I am right in the middle of the Golden Years. What makes them golden? Children. They are truly a blessing in my life.
It's hard to believe that so much time has passed since I made any sort of attempt at record keeping. My whole life has been passing me by and I have failed to put down my thoughts somewhere. Well, that is going to change.
My life certainly turned on a dime the day I met Kerri. She was already working on her Masters degree. I was aimlessly wandering through my college existence, trying to feel my way through the schooling process. I didn't know exactly which direction I wanted to go with my life. I knew, however, that I wanted to get married. I had wanted to do so since I was five-years old, honestly. I'm sure that sounds crazy, but I've always held a romanticized view of marriage. (For what it's worth, marriage has turned out to be all I could have hoped for and more).
Anyways, as fate would have it, I met Kerri playing basketball (of all things). I was captivated by her smile, her curly brown hair, and her... jump shot. That's right, I like a girl that can play ball. She was exactly what I was looking for. She seems to be able to do it all. While she knows how to dress up and be feminine when the occasion calls for it, she also isn't afraid of a little work. In fact, she's always tackling some sort of project.
Her powers as a domestic diva were simply overwhelming - particularly her cooking. It didn't take me long to know I wanted to marry her. We were engaged in just three weeks and I immediately began to pack on the ell bees as they say thanks in large part to that wonderful cooking talent.
We were married for time and all eternity on August 15, 1996. It's hard to believe that was 12 years ago. I finished my schooling in 1998, just after the birth of our first child, Lindsey. She was a little bit tricky in getting here. The umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck twice and after 22 hours of labor, Kerri didn't have much fight left in her to get the baby out. The doctor told her at a critical moment, "If you don't push now, this baby isn't going to make it here!" Kerri found some extra push somewhere and managed to get her out. It was all so frighteningly beautiful. There was a nurse in training who asked if she could be present for the birth. It turns out the birth of Lindsey was the first one she had witnessed. So, when Lindsey was finally born, she was crying right along with Kerri and me.
Within 17 months, AJ came along, complete with a chronic upset stomach and the loudest mouth you could imagine. I was travelling a lot in those days, so Kerri got to deal with all that. I'll never forget New Years Eve of 1999. While the rest of the world was partying like it was 1999, I was driving my son around the Interstate hoping he would eventually fall asleep. Luckily, he fell asleep before I did. : )
Not surprisingly, Tanner didn't come along as quickly as did AJ. Eventually, well, AJ got so cute (and Lindsey always was) that we decided two was not enough company. We needed a crowd, so along came Tanner. This time around, there was no colic, only smiles. Tanner was a very agreeable baby. He was so easy to deal with. He loved to smile. In fact, he still does plenty of that to this day. He's fun and easy going. He looks up to his big brother AJ. He wants to do everything with him. They sleep in the same room and they sure seem like best friends. We are so lucky to have him.
Alyssa was a big challenge, but not the challenge you might think. She was relatively easy to get here (I know, easy for me to say). She wasn't difficult as far as babies go, either. However, just four days after she was born, Kerri was back in the hospital with a ruptured appendix. The doctor that operated on her said her appendix had ruptured several days prior, and she had infection raging throughout her body. Clearly, Kerri was a lucky girl. She had a guardian angel looking out for her it seemed. However, recovery was very slow. She was in the hospital for a week, so I had to do everything for my four-day old baby. I got her to take formula. I changed her, rocked her, got up with her in the night, held her some more, and tried to take care of the other three kids by myself. Thankfully, Kerri's mother came to town after a couple of days of me trying to do everything myself. I really grew up that week. I love my kids equally, and I would never have it any other way, but I do admit I forged a bond with Alyssa from that experience that is different from all my others. She's a sweetheart, though. Actually, the word to describe her is "Princess".
Jordan is the caboose. He's so much fun. He's not shy, either. He loves to be around people and talk with them. He's growing up so fast it's amazing. He really likes basketball, so I think we named the right one Jordan. It appears he will be quite the athlete - just like his big brothers. He's no lightweight, either. He catches all his meals and then some.
These days, we keep very, very busy. If it's not soccer, or basketball, or scouts, or school, or whatever, it's always something else. Maybe it's somewhat understandable why I haven't done such a great job of keeping a journal, because there's never any spare time it seems. We are always busy doing something. That said, we (read:Kerri) have done a good job of keeping photo-journals of our lives. We love living in the mountains and love the wonderful neighborhood where we find ourselves. We are blessed beyond measure.
