So Long Ago

http://vimeo.com/31673669. Check out this cute video!

I recently happened upon a blog of a girl who is "waiting" for her missionary. He has just hit his year mark, and now the count down is on until he returns. Reading her blog has brought back many memories of nearly ten years ago when Brad was on the down hill slope of his mission and his eventual return. She also posted a short video of another girl greeting her newly returned missionary at the airport. Then to top if all of, I was trying to hide some presents from the kids in the top of our closet and Brad's missionary journal fell down and hit me on the head. I of course had to crack it open and read a few entries. They made me smile. We were so young and so in love and missed eachother so much. Time seemed to go by so slow. We were both very busy, but the thought of our future life together was never too far from our minds. I dreamed of the day that he would return, that we would get engaged and then married. The day that we would announce we were pregnant with our first baby, then another baby, graduate college and so on and so on. All of those things have come to pass and we are actually physically living that dream that seemed so far away all those years ago. These two pictures hang in a picture frame, with some others of our last ten years, in our stair well. I walk past them numerous times a day as I pack kids and their belongings up and down. I rarely take the time to look at the pics, however as I have had these long ago memories resurfacing lately, I have noticed the pictures much more. I almost wish I could reach in there and say, "Time will fly faster than you ever knew it could, and you will be happier than you ever knew you could be." I also look at the pictures and think, Wow! I am so lucky to have Brad, to spend each day and night and week and month and year with him and the happy little family we have created. I know this is verging on corny, but there were times that I never thought he would return from Brazil and that I would just die of heart ache. Truth be told, I can now barely remember those feelings and that life that was pre-marriage and pre- our 4 great kids. My goal now will be to remember how much I longed for this day to come when I am in the middle of breaking up a sibling fight or dealing with a meltdown, or one more sleepless night as I try to calm a 4 month old who thinks sleep is for weak babies and he is not one of those. I will try to be more patient with Brad when he forgets to do something or accidentally sticks his foot in his mouth because I know he missed me just as much as I missed him for those two years apart.