4 years ago my parents were here for a visit during the peak of fall colors, so we did a lot of driving around the area, oohing and aahing over the beautiful trees. My Mom took this picture of Charlie and I on a particularly beautiful stretch of road, and we actually ended up using it for our Christmas Card picture that year.
However, in the fall of 2010, we were right in the midst of our TTC/IF struggles, and things were not great between the two of us. Lots of bickering, fighting, and overall frustrated interactions between us ruled the day, and we were actually PISSED at each other when this picture was taken, so it has always made me sort of half laugh and half cringe to see it. I was in such a dark place of feeling like we would never be able to be parents, and I unfortunately took a lot of it out on my husband. It wasn’t good.
Today we drove around with the kids after a visit to the local pumpkin patch, and when we got to this particular stretch of road, I just had to make Charlie stop the car so I could jump out and take a picture. Harvey was sleeping, but Stella got out with me, and I snapped this quick selfie with my phone to send to my Mom.
If only I could have told that sad, angry woman 4 years ago that things would work out just fine — that we’d have 2 beautiful kids and a wonderful marriage, and that it wasn’t worth it to take out my feelings of hurt and rage and frustration on the man who was in it with me to the end. It’s amazing to think of how far we have come in the past 4 years, and it’s even cooler to think about what the future will hold for us and our kids. I know I say it all the time, but no matter what the challenges are that we will face in life, we truly are so blessed.
I hear you, sister! Brian and I just talked about this very thing on our date tonight, that those IF days were rough and that we regret how we treated each other.
Onward and upward!
This makes me so happy! The fall colors, how your life turned out, the struggle that is now behind you, the photo even to commemorate that time. Full circle! We’ve all been that couple in the first pic, and hopefully your still in the trenches readers can take some solis that somehow, someway, it will all work out.
Hind sight is exactly what they say I guess! Full circle(well minus sleeping Harvey) and both pictures are amazing!
Oh my gosh, I was on the verge of ugly crying reading this. It’s amazing that I’ve seen this pic two other places and didn’t know the significance of it. How interesting to think of all the other pics of people’s lives we see every day and all their secret stories.
And I’ve been thinking again and again how happy you and C look lately. The strength of your love for each other is clear from 1,000 miles away – literally.
Wow, I hadn’t even thought about that (how many pics we all must see every day that we don’t know the secret story behind). Powerful to think about…
That is amazing!!!! As angry as you two were in the first photo, it didn’t show. You guys look wonderful. And how blessed it is to have a pic to look back on, some actual visual proof that God will see you through!
Great pictures, both of them!