Fifteen Years

Time is so weird.

It's both scientific and EmOtIoNaL.
I comprehend the passing of time by "events" in my life,
don't you?
Memories thread together the passing of time...

My earliest memory is the sting of red ants crawling up my legs,
and my mother scooping me up and running a waterhose over my legs
to wash off the ants and their terrible stings.
I asked my mom long ago if that really happened
and she said it did when I was three years old.

I don't remember being three,
but I remember those ant stings.

See what I mean?

When I was twenty, I married.
Years that are recalled by memories:
Those were the school years,
the years enveloped in diapers,
and broken-down-cars years,
miles-away-from-family years.

I happened to marry the wrong person.
We were married fifteen hard, long years
before the kids and I cut him and made him the
"free agent" he still is today.

I remarried Mr. Wonderful the next year
and soon we will be celebrating our 15th Anniversary.
Same amount of time,
totally different experience.

These have been the teenage years
which are punctuated by
driving lessons, graduations, dental braces,
proms and dating years;
the career-move years--
moving to Boise, Idaho and back to Colorado years;
The hey-our-bodies-are-falling-apart-years--
doctor appointments, knee replacement surgeries and
other bodily things that noone talks about in polite company.

Mr. W came along when my oldest yahoos were in their early teens--
he could've run down the street like his hair was on fire
to get away from the eye-rolling-death-stares,
the flippant sarcasm and/or apathetic posture that teens work so hard to perfect
when they're being rotten teenagers.
He didn't bow-out when cars were wrecked,
curfews were broken,
and grocery bills were as breathtaking as
the mountains of weekly laundry;
and he didn't let me run-for-the-hills either.

In fifteen years,
we have raised five children to adulthood.
Sent off kids on adventures and missions,
planned weddings and baby blessings.
And we brought two more yahoos to the marriage--
so on top of teens we had pregnancies (and a miscarriage),
AND diapers n' spit-up n' teething fevers n' all that goes with
toddlers and babies and teenagers.

What else?
We've had unemployment and disappointments.
Just a good mix of life-moments.
In other words, it ain't been easy!

But that's not where my memories are tied to this passing of time--
we have had opportunities to rejoice in the midst of trials;
times to laugh our guts out at and with our children;
tender moments of tears and love and gratitude
for the sweet blessings that have come along too.

It's kinda interesting how "time" is reflected in our minds, isn't it?

It's the difference of waiting in the DMV line for forty-five grueling minutes
and waiting at your favorite restaurant for the same amount of time...

Scientifically, forty-five minutes is forty-five minutes.
There's no shortcut around it.
And yet, depending on whom you're spending that time with,
makes all the difference, doesn't it?

When the best part of my day is the moment
Mr. W walks in the door,
I know.
I am one lucky woman.
And fifteen years is just a blink of time
in the speck of eternity.