31 Things

In line with all this scrapbooking stuff I’ve been doing lately (I still find it hard to call it scrapbooking. It’s memory keeping – but I guess if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck…then…you know), I came across a class called 31 Things. It was created and is hosted by a woman named Ali Edwards who is kind of a big name in the scrapbooking world. Her blog is wonderful and the products she creates are fantastic, but she also hosts these scrap classes to share her ideas with the world.

31 Things is about telling stories. It’s about telling stories to share with your family and friends. I decided to join in because I am always looking for ways to get better at writing and I think it’s an awesome opportunity to take a snapshot of what life is like as a 31 year old married mother of two. Who knows? Maybe when Allyson is in her early thirties, she can take a look at this book and see that the stuff she’s feeling is normal and she can know (hopefully continue to know) how much I love her and our family.

So here’s my first day. I don’t know that I’ll actually get through posting them all to this blog. I’ve done pretty well at writing them all so far. It’s a little tough to keep up with a story every day, but I’m doing it. I really want to know how it turns out in the end.

Story 1: Jewelry

Even after 6 ½ years of marriage, I still get compliments on my wedding ring from complete strangers. I love this because I make a point to tell Steve when I next see him. It’s a funny thing, because I know he gets such a feeling of pride over this tiny little compliment. I love making my husband feel that way.

It’s also funny because I always get an “I told you so” from him. You see, when we were shopping for engagement rings I had this idea in my head of what I wanted. And what I learned from my very picky yet design-oriented husband was that what I wanted was the same thing that every other girl he knew had. He was dead set against this and no wife of his was going to have something you see everywhere.

Shopping for my wedding ring was one of the first times in my adult life that I let someone else take control of something that meant so much to me. I let Steve show me what it was like to step outside the box (for lack of a better cliché) for once and see what other possibilities there were. He’s just so good at seeing things in different ways. He thinks through all the angles and potentials before making a decision. Sure, sometimes I go out of my mind because we need to make a decision and he’s lagging, but in this instance, he was at the top of his game and knew what he was doing. That was one of the first of many life-changing moments with him, but more on those another time.

We shopped around, visited lots of different places. Being young, it’s not like we had unlimited funds, so designing something from scratch wasn’t really an option – even though I know that’s what he really would have liked to do. We finally decided on a few that we both liked and then I left the ultimate decision up to him. I mean, a girl has to be surprised, right?

 As you can see, “he did good.” And I love it. I take great pride in wearing it because I know that he’s happy with our choice. I wear that sucker every stinkin’ day without fail and I hope that strangers, when they compliment me, see on my face and in my eyes, how much I love that man and how proud I am to wear this token of his love and commitment for me every single day. 

Stay tuned...more to come. A little slice of my life.

~Becky