Knee-Jerk Nuptials

Wow! Twenty years of wedded BLISS.....MMMMMM...What can I say? Not one person thought we'd make it six weeks :) I don't really blame them...There are no pictures of the actual day our nuptials...Why? Well... you could say our wedding was a shotgun one and nobody thought to bring a camera and we were teenagers (in H.S.) and we put more thought into what we had for dinner the night before and what we wore that morning, than we did our actual wedding or the lifetime ahead of us.....

 

Our wedding...hhhhmmmm

 

an over-reaction (for sure)

a high pressure sale (kinda)

young live birds jumping the gun (mmm mmhh)

 

 

knee-jerk nuptials...yup that's what you would call our wedding.

 

And it goes something like this...

 

Tuesday

Teenagers in LOVE.

Teenagers trying to make things right.

My Mom FREAKS OUT!!!!

Mom: "You HAVE TO get married!"

Me/Grant: "But Mom ?!?!" 

Grant to Me:" So like do you want to get married?"

Me: "Sure, I guess"

 

Wednesday

Mom finds a justice of the peace.

Mom pays for and takes us to get a marriage license.

Mom buys our wedding rings at the mall (without us).

 

Thursday

Grant and I exchange vows in the JP's living room.

My mom and sister are the only ones there.

No one knew we got married.

I phone my Dad, he is shocked!

Grant phones his parents...shocked!!!

 

 

Yup superman and I were married on a school night, we didn't even wait for a weekend.

 

 

Feb 1993...a few weeks before our wedding...But these are the exact clothes we wore for the big day.

 

 

I had no idea how to cook (or anything matronly), he didn't know how to share the TV.

I still wore Mickey Mouse jeans, he still played Nintendo.

I was still in high school, he didn't even own a car.

we were just kids... 

 

 

 

So how did we manage to not wreck a marriage that started without a foundation?

 

At first we sucked at the marriage thing, we were just teenagers...but then Holly came along and it was the whole fake it, until you make it thing...

 

We were a family, so we acted like a family.

 

Feb 1995 - Bailey's Blessing Day

 We have had plenty of challenges, frustration and heartaches but we managed to love our way through each one.

There are days I still feel like I have no idea what we are doing...and really I don't. But I do know what works for us...

Summer 1995-Port Alberni, Yes I'm tired, I am already pregnant with Madison :)

August 2001-Holly's baptism-Port Alberni
H-8, B-7, M-6, A-3, D-2

No secrets.

Don't take life too seriously.

Find people who believed in both of you and ignored the ones who do not.

Listen, even if you don't want to hear it.

Laugh more than you cry. (well, maybe not Grant ;) )

Don't give up at the same time.

Problems in our marriage stay in our marriage.

Good therapy.

Date night. Date night. Date night.

Let the other be their true self.

Our children do not come first. (I make no apologies for this)

Forget expectations.

Be fast forgivers.

and enjoy the ride....

Oct 2012 (Dallyn is hiding behind me)

 

Stubbornness, luck, determination..... Sure but mostly a lot of hard work and even greater faith, that is why we are still standing twenty years after our knee-jerk nuptials.

 

I am married to my dearest friend, eternal companion and greatest ally. My life is a blessed one.

 

I love you Grant Edward Kramer and I would do it all over again...but maybe we should have call the in-laws and find a camera, this time :)