Growing up

Growing up my life was what many call "ideal". I had the standard two parent one older brother household. My Dad is a Minister of Music and church was always a big deal. When I was very little we moved a lot- from Georgia to Alabama to Mississippi and finally to North Carolina when I started 4th grade.

I have always been a Momma's girl. I never had a sister so I think I just used her instead. We are very similar and she always supported me. My Dad and I are close now but he is so intellecutual that as a young child we would make fun of him. He liked to ask me "essay questions" as I call them. These deep questions that just pop out of nowhere. Now these questions make me smile because I know it is his way of getting to know me on more than a superficial level but, at 13 years old, these questions were always followed by a groan from  me.

This is my crazy family:

At this point in my life my parents have been married 30 years. I met my now finance because he has been my brother's best friend since high school and we are all close. This year has been hard though. We have had what I would call my first family crisis.

My Mom left my Dad in the fall. The picture above is very special because it is when she came back home. I will probably never understand her decision to leave but I do understand her decision to come home. More than that I respect my Dad for having the forgiveness to let her come home. For four months of my life I thought my family was not going to make it. Now (as you can see above) we are as weird as always.

Getting married in May and trying to plan a wedding while my parents marriage was having a disappearing act was hard. I questioned love in general. Was I ready to get married? Was I going to make the same mistakes? How did my perfect parents and their perfect marriage fall apart with no warning??

Now I feel like life is normal again. This is all I have ever known. Now I can dream of my future children playing with my parents the same way I did as a child.