A date night

It's tough sometimes, pulling and tugging at time in our schedule, trying to stretch it and make time for ourselves. 
Between work, Taylor's classes, school work, and our drive to and from work, we barely have time for anything, least of all each other.  

But its ok.....Because when those times do happen, they're magical! Filled with deep conversation and jokes and so much laughing.... with a sprinkling of hugs and kisses on top.  That's what we got last weekend. 

We spent the day getting sweaty and saw-dusty while cleaning out the garage. 

That night we went to a movie 2 hours later than we planned to around 10 pm, after we showered and prettied-up.  We saw Elysium! 

[opinion on the movie: the plot was a little underdeveloped, and there was way too many exploding bodies for my taste -5-, but the message was pretty good, and it was certainly suspenseful!]

After that we were exhausted, but we went to a 24 hr. diner and had some dinner.  [dinner at the diner. heh.]

Honestly... this was the best time we've spent together in a while.  Our schedule is always so busy, that one night of just US time was like a breath of fresh air.  

Now that all sounds wonderful, right? But the outtakes [or bloopers] look like this: 

-Erika crying all the way to the movie because she realized that she won't be able to watch her friends' kids grow up, because she's moving to Oregon in a year...

-Erika crying during the movie because she realized that she's leaving Oregon in a week...

-Erika crying during dinner because she's having trouble communicating all her emotions

-Taylor has no idea what's going on, and is just trying his best to fix all the emotional breakdowns.

Hormonal emotions. Let's blame them.

But let's also see what we learned from all of this:
1. Crying is not a problem... it does not need fixing.
2. Moving away from home is going to be more difficult than expected
3. The expression of real emotion...real, RAW emotion... is sometimes more life-giving and bonding than if I had just dismissed it.
4. I just needed to be understood.

You don't have to be afraid of possibly causing conflict [like bawling the entire time for a bit during the first date you've had in a while]... because conflict isn't a bad thing.  Conflict can be beneficial! It all depends on how the conflict is perceived by both sides.
Taylor and I weren't arguing about anything, we didn't disagree about anything...he just didn't know what I needed from him! His manly instincts told him to fix it, because crying is ALWAYS a bad thing in men's brains....  But my "don't even..." when he tried, told him exactly the opposite.  He was stuck trying to make it better, but trying to do it the RIGHT way.
 I finally realized that what I needed, rather than 10 solutions, was just for Taylor to understand and empathize with my feelings, and tell me that it's ok.

That's the beauty of the way God created men and women.  He created men to be a strong, protector, leader, provider, 'fix-er'... and women as an emotional, loving, nurturing, yet still strong and passionate caretaker.  And THAT is the beauty of marriage.  Two people coming together to be ONE, and bring all their strengths, weaknesses, talents, fears, hopes, and dreams together, to fill in where the other lacks, and work as a team...

I'm glad I get to be on his team.

Love, 

  

Wanna laugh?

don't look at my legs for too long. they start looking scary.

Love, 

 

Oregon Coast

Taylor and I drove out to Florence, OR this weekend for our engagement pictures, and drove up to Depoe Bay afterwards.  After numerous games of Monopoly Deal with the family, I fell asleep  we all went to bed.  Monopoly Deal is one of those games that you just have to GET. The strategy is somewhat complex, and the vultures (read: Jordan and Taylor) will take you DOWN if you leave yourself vulnerable.
I didn't win that night. 

One engagement picture :)

However the next morning I did win, and it was a wonderful, joyous morning!! Everyone was sulking, competetive, and jealous so happy for me that I finally won! [they weren't really sulking... they're good sports!]

After we got back from the tiny local coffee shop, where I had a spicy wench!!! [..... it was just a dirty chai, relax people], Jordan decided to take us on an adventure.

Although I like to believe and claim that I'm a pretty good hiker, and I can keep up, that "adventure" proved that I most certainly am not the former, and cannot do the latter.  But despite my protests and quiet complaints to Taylor [Shout-out to him for being patient and loving, and a TROOPER all during my tantrum bad attitude] I still had fun.  Taylor and I built a sand castle on the beach [our destination] and it was just a wonderful time.  [There was also this one point in the journey-adventure-torture, when we had to slide down a 70 degree hill, covered in small stones, on our butts, because there was no way we could hike down it without falling on our faces.  That happened too.]

You know those really feel-good times, when you're tired, warm, and absolutely have no care in the world if you get yourself or your clothes dirty and sweaty? Yeah. That was one of those times, and it was fantastic.  My legs were getting torn up by small bushes and vines, my hands got cut up by the rocks we had to slide down, and I got so much sand, dirt, and gravel in my shoes, but it was still fantastic.

Taylor's a lucky guy, no? 

Later we had a semi-potluck dinner, and showers.  I still don't know which I enjoyed better.  Then we had a fire on the beach, and somehow God provided enough wood for us to have a fire until past midnight.  We only brought like 5 small-ish logs, and quickly realized that our fire would be more short and sweet, than roaring and crackling.  Taylor found some abandoned logs from other fires, and we used them to start ours! 

Anyway. That's much more detail than you need.  The next day we played some more games, had some more food, Taylor got to snuggle with his two favorite cousins, more people showed up than were expected [but with the Boustead family, that's always expected], Taylor and I read the Bible together on Sunday morning, then we drove home! It was a lovely weekend.  

Coming up next: I've realized that being with Taylor is like trying to fit a large square peg in a round hole.... It shaves off all the rough uncomfortable corners, and helps me to become the woman that I know I can, and I will be.  It's kinda crazy, but I kinda like it... and want to talk about it, so stay tuned!

Love,