Love, Laughter and Happily Ever After

This past weekend Matthew and I celebrated 7 years of marriage!  In some ways I can't believe it's already been 7 years and in others it feels like we've already been married an entire lifetime.  Either way, it's been the best 7 years of my life, filled with more love, joy, adventure, terror, excitement, bliss, pain and growth than I ever could have imagined.  

As he always does, Matthew planned a little surprise getaway for just the two of us.  He planned it over a month ago, when I was actually still in the hospital and neither one of us knew whether or not I'd be well enough to go.  Thankfully I was not confined to Vanderbilt at this time so we took off on our adventure Saturday around lunch.  Our dear, sweet friends the Burlesons took good care of Kyndall for us overnight while we were gone.  They are like second parents to us here in Jackson and have been there for us many, many times---Including the three times I was called to the hospital for transplant!  They are the ones Kyndall stayed with the night I finally got the real call and kept her safe and sound until our family arrived a few days later.  I never worry about her there and she absolutely adores Mrs. Pam and Mr. Johnny.

I had no clue where we were going but was pleasantly surprised when we arrived in Tunica, Mississippi at the MGM Gold Strike Casino and Resort.

You know you've been married a while when you spend your first hour of a kid-free trip doing this.....

My feet were swelling from all the prednisone I'm on so I propped them up while Matthew played on his phone.  We sat like this for at least a good hour before going downstairs to check out the resort.  How pathetic!

I got this text picture from Mrs. Pam telling me they had taken Kyndall to a movie, Sonic, the park and that they were headed to dinner at Snappy's!  They spoil her!

At 7:00 we had dinner reservations downstairs in one of the restaurants.  It was one of those fancy restaurants where I start sweating because I don't know which fork to use or how to pronounce most things on the menu o whether it's ok to lick my fingers.  I'm the simplest girl you'll ever meet and would have been perfectly happy with Chick-Fil-A for our anniversary dinner.  But, my sweet husband likes to spoil me (and make me sweat, apparently!) and always treats me to fancy 'thangs!

The waiter surprised us with this HEAVENLY piece of chocolate cake for dessert!  It was huge and yummy and Kyndall and I actually finished it off for breakfast this morning!  Ha!!



After dinner we decided to check out the casino.  It was beautiful and the atmosphere was fun but I nearly choked to death on all of the cigarette smoke.  So, we went up to the second floor where there was no smoking and things were a little less "crazy"!

We set a very small limit and stuck to it---no worries!  I'm way too cheap to get sucked into this stuff!

 The hotel was so pretty!

We got up the next morning and headed back to Jackson just in time to meet the Burlesons and our girl for lunch at Rafferty's after they got out of church.  We spent the rest of the afternoon (which was our actual anniversary) playing in the playroom with Kyndall.  Well truthfully, I fell asleep on the couch up there and Kyndall and her Daddy played the afternoon away and let me rest.

Matthew grilled out dinner for us that night and then we exchanged gifts.  We agreed on no big gifts this year and we each did something kind of silly for the other one.  Someone recommended this book to me so I told him to get it for my anniversary gift!  I don't even like to read---hate it in fact....but this really sparked my interest.  I've been told it's graphic so we shall see how far into it I can get!  Definitely glad I'm reading it AFTER my surgery.

I saw this online a few weeks ago and ordered it as a silly, fun gift.  He actually thought it was great.  Score!

So much has happened in 7 years.  Matthew and I have probably walked through more in the past 7 years than some couples walk through in an entire lifetime.  When we started out, we had NO idea the twists and turns our lives would take or that we would be handed such ups and downs.  We've experienced the good, the bad and the ugly.  I can honestly say I wouldn't change as single moment of it.  Each surprise, each trial, each triumph, each milestone has made us who we are.  We are The Hughes Family and no amount of hardship or success will ever change that.  We are in this together, for LIFE.  I have no idea how long LIFE will be for us but I pray that we never take a single day for granted.  

If there's one thing we've learned over the past seven yeas it's that LAUGHTER is definitely the best medicine!  You have to laugh.  Some of our most tender moments together in the midst of the toughest battles have come when we just LAUGHED together.  Feeling sad and sorry for yourself will get you nowhere and will actually make you quite miserable.  But laughter is so good for the soul!  One of my favorite quotes is from Dolly Parton in my favorite movie of all time, Steel Magnolias.  She says "Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion."  It's so true!  

So, in honor of seven years of love and laughter, I've searched out some of my very favorite OLD pictures of us doing just that---LAUGHING!  I can't look at these without smiling.

 There is no doubt in my mind that Matthew was made just for me.  I absolutely cannot imagine my life without him.  He has been the best provider and caretaker I could have ever asked for and has done more than his fair share of filling in the gaps when I wasn't able to fulfill my role as a wife and mommy.  Sometimes I feel like he gets lost in the shadows since lately the focus is all on me.  He deserves so much more credit than he gets.  He is the glue that has held this family together.

When I was in college I literally sat down and made a list.  It was a list of requirements that my future husband had to meet.  I'm not lying when I say it was STRICT!  I wasn't willing to settle and I didn't.  There were even times when my own mother told me I was just being "too picky" and that "nobody was perfect".  Well guess what.....I found the one who was perfect for me!

One of my favorite verses has always been "Do not be anxious for anything but in everything, by prayer and petition, make your requests known to God......"  ~Philippians 4:6

I did exactly this, praying that God would send me the desires of my heart and He did.  He is faithful.  He knew that I would need Matthew in a big way and He put him in my life at the perfect time.  Matthew was and is every single thing on my "list" and more.

Lately I've been struggling with a lot of feelings of guilt, thinking how unfair it is that Matthew is essentially "stuck" with me as a wife.  A wife whose astronomical medical bills he must work hard to pay.  A wife who typically doesn't have the energy to cook gourmet dinners, plan romantic date nights or extravagant vacations.  A wife who often feels unattractive, self-conscious and anything but beautiful.  A wife who at times, cannot even take care of herself much less an entire family.  A wife whose needs must come before his own and a wife whose needs exceed the expectations of a typical husband and father.  A wife who is slowly realizing that she probably will never be able to give him a lap full of children to call his own.  A wife who has truly put our vows of "in sickness and in health" to the test! I have asked Matthew this many times lately..... "If you knew what was to come, would you still have married me....?"  He just shakes his head, rolls his eyes and dismisses my silly question with a very firm "yes!"  The thing is, I believe him.  I really do.  That's how I know he's the one I was meant for all along.  He has the gift of mercy and the heart of a caretaker and that is something God knew I would need.

Thank you, Matthew....for giving me the life I've always dreamed of.....things I had always hoped for but never imagined would become a reality.

And because I love memories, both good and bad, here are some of my favorites from the past 7 years.

In 7+ years we have......

Dated, meeting on a blind date!.....

Became engaged after only three months of dating!.......

Had a fairytale wedding........

Lived in four different cities and five different homes

Adopted our first "child" together.....

Celebrated anniversaries and accomplishments with exciting vacations and surprise trips......

Experienced the sharp sting of infertility and finally the pure joys of parenthood......

Experienced the first of two life-changing surgeries for me......

Bought our first home!!......

Suffered the painful loss of a beloved Grandparent......

And of course, walked through the journey of a lifetime as I received the gift of life in the form of a liver transplant.......

(Of the thousands of pictures I have of the two of us, this one is my all time favorite.  It sums up our life completely.  My husband, tenderly caring for me as I wake up from surgery.  Unable to help myself, he made sure my every need was met.)

(Second favorite----Cheering me on, as he always does!)

Our journey is far from over, my love!  We have a lot more living to do and a lot more memories to make.  Seven years is just the beginning!  As I've always said, it may not have been the fairytale we imagined but it has definitely been an adventure!!  

I love you, James Matthew Hughes!  You are my unsung hero.