The Ties That Bind...

This Sunday we are heading to the coast for our annual family beach trip that never fails to be a wonderful time for all.  And to see us out on the beach together, one would never guess how our family as it is came to be.  


Because I'm not talking about my biological family or Charlie's although we certainly love and appreciate them too.  But I'm talking about Darin's family...


When I married Darin in April of 1997 I never, in my wildest dreams, imagined that just a few years down the road I would find myself a widow with two little boys four and under.  And certainly not that just a few years after that I'd be married to another man who I'd take to Darin's parents' house for Sunday dinners and along on their family beach trips.  


Yet here I am.  Here we are.  And it works. It fits. Perfectly.  


There have been times when my mother-in-law Pat, father-in-law Bob or brother-in-law Karry have called the house and asked to speak to Charlie about something.  They all helped us move into our new house in the Spring of last year, we sit with them at church on Sundays and they were all right there up front on the day of our wedding that my sister-in-law Debbie and her twin sister Denise did the food and flowers for. And Darin's cousin, Kelly, blessed our day with his exceptional singing voice and guitar playing. 


Darin's best friend Dave still takes the boys, and sometimes even their friends too, to do fun stuff on Saturdays and how he has the patience to sit at the family fun place while they play arcade games all day, I will never know!  But he does it.  


Someone once said to Charlie (I think before we were married) that he didn't think he could deal with all that...that it would just be weird.  And I suppose to some it would be which is why I am so grateful that God sent me/us a man who could not only deal with it but embrace it, wholeheartedly.  


So while things don't always turn out anything at all like we thought they should and our hearts are often so broken that we can't imagine ever experiencing true happiness again or even how we are going to manage carrying on with our lives, we are living proof that with a lot of love, faith, acceptance and prayer anything is possible and life always goes on...

August 2010 (Pay no attention whatsoever to the sour puss looks on my boys' faces)