Married 20 years today

Just a quick post to add what I posted on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/marcie.greenreynolds) today to my blog:

I have spent the last 20 years being married, having kids, laughing and loving, fighting and crying, winning and losing, next to one man. Some days we couldn’t stand each other and other days we couldn’t stand to be apart. There were times when nobody thought we would make it and times when we thought they might be right. Life has not been perfect at all, but there has been a bond so strong that even we can’t break it. This past 9 months have been the most rewarding because we faced the end, the insurmountable and we came out stronger on the other side. 

Marriage is nothing like I thought it would be. I thought it would be coming home after work and cooking in the kitchen together while the perfectly decorated, spot free home sparkled in the background for ambiance. I thought it would be family portraits with matching outfits and perfect lighting. I thought it would be balanced checkbooks and paid bills, good credit and nice cars. I thought it would be the American Dream. Instead it is scary diagnoses, fear, and tears. It is real life pain and drama, misunderstandings and disagreements. It is messy homes and burned food. It is exhaustion and stress. It is all these things, with someone there by your side to hold you up when you can’t go on and for you to lend support when they are just worn out. It is long hours working to support family and struggling to juggle bills and needs and wants. It is not the perfect little life I imagined, but it is mine and I love it.