Grateful

I grew up in the same small town that my parents grew up in southeast Kansas. I grew up with both sets of my grandparents living in walking distance or, if you were lucky and your dad had borrowed the John Deere riding mower from his parents, mower-riding distance.

A good chunk of my aunts and uncles and cousins lived nearby as well so seeing them at least once a week was not out of the norm.

When we were sick, my grandma Dean would watch us. We had a weekly dinner at my Grams and Papps's house (and watched a lot of "Hee Haw" and "Lawrence Welk" where my brother and I would dance to the LW band in front of the TV in the basement).

Me and my Grams! 

When we played basketball (I use the term "we" loosely, as my brother and sister played a lot, while I 'played'), my Grams and Papps had front row seats nearest to the door so my Papps could get out to the car easily, but they were always there. As some health issues arose for my Papps, he and Grams would sit in my uncles truck and watch football games from the other side of the field. I remember walking over to see them after I won Homecoming Queen (you know this whole post was based on the fact that I could say that line out loud - HA!).

Stopped to see Grams and Papps before my senior prom -- I don't know where my grin comes from. :) 

I can still hear my Grandpa Bob's voice, calling for my mom. "Mary Annie!"

I bring this all up to serve as a reminder to myself (and to my brother and sister as well) of how incredibly lucky I was (we were) to have known my grandparents when I did and to have lived my childhood with them down the street.

My grandma Dean, grandpa Bob, mom and me at my First Communion

We never knew life any differently. We knew that Grams made the best pancakes and grandma Dean made the best eggs. My Grams could make a killer milkshake. My grandma Dean brought Doris Day and Debbie Reynolds into our lives.

My Papps LOVED for us to be around. He had a stroke before I was born, so I never knew him before and there most of the time there was a good chance I didn't know WHAT he was talking about (the adults did) but knew his phrases. He was very consistent.

"So damn proud of you!"

"Love you soooooo much!" Followed by the hardest half bear hug (one arm was in a sling) you can imagine.

"Cheers!"

Me and my Papps

I texted my aunt Sally - my dad's baby sister - this morning to tell her I was singing "You Are My Sunshine" to Tess last night and teared up. My Grams used to sing this to all of us when we were little. We'd sit in her lap, she'd grab your hands and play the faux piano as she sang this song.

It was her song.

And as I was singing it to Tess last night, I knew my Grams was right there with me, smiling as we sang.  I can only imagine how much she would have loved all of these babies and how entertained she and Papps would be by Sloane and Reece!

My family spends a lot of time traveling to see my parents and siblings and Matt's parents and his brother.

As you can see, I grew up surrounded by family. They were a large part of my life so I do not know any differently. And right now, we live close enough that we can get to everyone. So we do it.

Does traveling get old? Yes.

But will I keep doing it? Yes. Because I want my kids to be around family. I want them to always be excited to see their grandparents and aunts and uncles. I want them to be with and play with their cousins. I want them to know that we are their parents, but these people will be in their lives and love them forever.

I grew up with wonderful people and I do not take that time I had with them for granted. And maybe I hope that in 30 years, my kids are able to sit around the dining room table together and laugh and cry about all of the wonderful stories they have from their childhood with their family!

Because there is nothing better for the soul than a good, hard laugh and cry about wonderful memories.

XXOO,
Allyson

16 Years and Then Some...

Once upon a time, in a faraway land (to many, known as Kansas), in a teeny tiny town, lived two young kids.

These two kids were very good friends. One friend had a girlfriend and the other friend probably was never able to take any sort of hint that she wasn't wanted around all the time, so she was around. All the time. She hung out with the friend and girlfriend all the time.

The third-wheel friend also had a boyfriend who told her nonchalantly and in a joking manner that she was probably in love with her friend.

The friend did not like hearing such things because he was just her friend. And would never be anything more. He was Matt, for Gods sake.

Sixteen years later, those two friends have been married for eight years, have three children, a dog, a trampoline and don't remember much from 16 years ago because... well, because life at the moment is madness... but I can tell you that in January of 2001, none of this had ever entered my mind.

Our love story is funny because never during that time when I was the third-wheel friend (yes, that was me!) was I imagining my life with Matt. Because he was my friend. He was nothing more.

Yes, he had an outrageous smile that made your stomach do flips and his hair always seemed wet because he probably managed to let him take gym class four times a day.

Matt was charming in that he could get just about anyone to do what he wanted, just by smiling. Why do you think he sat next to the odd Spanish teacher's desk his junior year? That gal was blushing all class long.

How on earth did we end up together?

Great question.

Here's what I can tell you.

I had a New Year's Eve party with my friends (who Matt still makes fun of - listen, we may not have been as "cool" as Matt and his buddies back in the day, but my friends were good friends and we made our fun... all legal fun) and somehow Matt ended up there (he is a year older than me so why he was at a high school party must show you the deep-down love he had for me - ha). I was trusted to have a sleepover... because seriously, none of my friends and I had any of those lovey dovey feelings for each other, but somehow, my relationship with Matt took a turn that night. And it was from nothing, except flirting, and being mature and throwing carrots at each other (high school, people).

Since he was in college and his break was a little longer, he was around - he was at a basketball game where I hurt my knee (I DID hurt it... I just probably pushed my recovery time a little longer than needed!) and we sat together.

A few weeks later, we are at a movie together - "Save the Last Dance".

And that was it. The full-on love fest began with hand-holding. And then a conversation in the car, with his brother Michael in the backseat asleep, about what was going on, should we be doing this, is Michael going to hate us.

Side note: I love Michael to death and I have since 7th grade. Matt has joked that he thinks I might have married the wrong Clark boy because for all the things Matt doesn't do (or doesn't remember to do), Michael usually does do. My love for that kid though is full-on brother mode and I'm taking applications for for a sweet sister-in-law for myself (or more for Michael... whatever).

Despite it all, we decided we'd give our relationship a shot. And the rest is history.

They let us get a dog.

They let me teach him to ski (that was fun...NOT)!

They actually let us get married.

We have had our bumps along the way... how can you not in 16 years?! I wanted to kill him most days (said by every woman on the planet at some point in their life about a man). He probably wanted me to be less needy (says every man in the universe).

I watched many Newman Jet basketball games in my lifetime!

We tried time apart at the end of college because I was trying to prove a point with him.

I sucked at that and our time apart lasted maybe a week.

Babies.

In the end, I couldn't do life without this person. He came in to my life as a friend 18 years ago, he became my boyfriend two years later and now here we are, 16 years down the road, and I don't think we ever thought this would be our life.

I don't think we ever thought the third-wheel and the kid with the great smile would end up happily ever after.

But that's the fun of living your own story, your own fairy-tale. You get to write it all.


XXOO,
Allyson