2001-2014–Thirteen years married to The Banana Man!
It’s a milestone that has sparked much scheming and planning by the Little A’s. If we weren’t fairly sure they do love us, I think Banana Man and I would start to feel kind of hurt about the way our boys are so eager to be rid of us! 
Especially our littlest A has been on a campaign since the beginning of the year–“When are you going for your date?” He asked it multiple times per day, then hourly and more as today drew closer. I heard that A1 and A2 were up in the middle of the night planning our day away. The boys may have had an ulterior motive–that of getting a day at Grandpa and Grandma and Aunt Peg’s house. Just maybe.
Well, it’s kind of funny how God works, sometimes, isn’t it? I planned that our day away would include checking out the nature park in Knoxville, but my logical husband pointed out that we might want to check that out when it was not raining! Hmm…logical it was, but I didn’t want to hear it. However, soon common sense kicked in, and I realized that we could try it on a nice day. We switched gears and headed to Asheville, hoping to find a vegan pizza joint. When one was closed, one was $25 or more for one pizza, and the other one was combined with a beer brewery, our hopes of finding a pizza joint we felt at home in started to dim. 😦 Nice plan, anyway.
Next idea was Mexican. We can always find something yummy at a Mexican restaurant, so we headed for one located right next to Earth Fare. Turns out our luck wasn’t so good that day, because that place was surrounded my police tape and cinder blocks–under construction! We weren’t really worried about finding somewhere good, since Asheville is probably the easiest place in the world to find good vegan food, but we did start to wonder how many stops we’d have to make! Since we were already at Earth Fare, we decided to go in and see if we could find a treat for dessert, anyway, even if we’d have to eat it first! 🙂 As we approached the door, I was just opening my mouth to ask Banana Man who he thought we might see inside that we knew, when we heard a car drive up and familiar voices shouting, “Banana Man and Red Head! What are you doing here?” Our good friends from our previous church family waved excitedly, and so we chatted with them for some time. We headed inside, and the first thing Banana Man and I noticed at the hot bar was freshly made pizza! Made to order, so that worked out nicely. And vegan. We’ve never done this before on our anniversary, but we invited our friends to share our pizza, and they were happy to oblige! We kind of had a potluck of sorts, with huge salads, hemp seeds which I’d never tried before (and liked), and various other things. Our friends treated us all with some kind of coconut ice cream bars that were quite decadent!
We ended up chatting away the whole afternoon and evening, and even had another couple join us in the conversation! The more the merrier for sure! Just think–if I’d have had my way in Knoxville, we’d never have had the chance to catch up with Dennis and Nancy, or to meet the other couple either! We just had a silly time towards the end of the evening, and ended up dashing over to Trader Joe’s with Dennis and Nancy to see what they had to offer! We almost felt like we were young and unmarried again, since we didn’t have to get the boys home to bed. Kind of a different feeling, but a nice little break also. 🙂 It really is nice to have friends with whom you can just pick up where you left off the last time.
After a leisurely morning (another rarity), we spent our day in quiet activities, coming together now and again to talk, then just allowing ourselves a little quiet alone time. This may sound like a strange thing to do, but we found that this alone time really did rejuvenate us and enabled us to enjoy our together time even more. With three energetic, growing boys, homeschool, cooking from scratch, running a business, living a country life, complete with wood chopping and gathering, and just the round of life, parents–especially moms really do not often take enough time just to breathe and sit a spell. I thoroughly enjoyed this luxury. Did a little catching up on my reading, crocheted a little, and, yes, even did a bit of laundry.
About lunchtime, which was also late and leisurely (and I had forgotten how easy cooking for two is), it suddenly hit me just how QUIET our house had become. No one asking for help, no one playing around and needing a reminder to focus, no singing, or yelling outside; well, no nothing! And I missed that noise! Funny, when the noises are constant, I long for some mental quiet, but I’d had my quiet tank filled, and although I won’t admit that I craved the noise, I did crave the life that accompanies it. I do love those wiggly, active, sometimes exasperating but full-of-life Little A’s.
By the end of the day, I was ready to reclaim our treasures, and I knew that Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Pet just might be ready for a little quiet on their end. 😉 The boys, naturally, would have stayed longer on their “vacation”, as they called it, but it was nice to have all of us back together again, and for me to tuck little bodies into bed.
We are blessed in many ways. I feel refreshed and content after our little day off, and look forward to many more days, months, and years growing together as a couple and a family.
🙂
Lessons...and lessons 