Saturday!

I took off the summer from my school bus driving job to help my daughter in law out with her children.  She is officially off work now and this weekend here in Northern Illinois we are having our summer heat wave, so she will be spending it in her air conditioned house, resting.  Mark's ex hasn't watched the kids much this summer so she took them to her trailer she shares with her sister to give Tracey a break.  Supposed to be in the high 90's with a lot of humidity.  I've lived here all of my 49 years and am used to the heat.  We have an old home with a boiler so we do not have central air.  I like it that way.  Going in and out of a/c drives me nuts and would rather be hot than go back and forth.  We do have a window unit so if it get too nasty at night we can turn that on so Mark can sleep, without too much whining.  When we first got married in 1995 it was a super hot summer with older people literally cooking to death in their apartments in Chicago, they were too afraid of crime to open their windows.  We were living in the upstairs apartment in an old Farmhouse.  We did not have a/c then, poor Mark complained the whole time. 

Now I am not as stubborn as I used to be when we first got married.  We brought two families of kids together and  back then it was a struggle, daily.  We were responsible for 5 kids full time and his 2 ever weekend.  That was 7 kids under the age of 14!  I had been in two really ugly relationships that produced my three kids.  I had taken a break from men, when Mark and I crossed paths again, at our kid's football game.  We went to high school together way back in the 70's and recognized each other immediately.  From first date on we were together, getting married 6 months later on April fools day.   It took us a few years to iron out all our issues, Mark had a drinking problem,  I gave that up years before, he was brought up in a good home with values, so for him it was pretty easy to give up his vices.  He had a base to pull from. It's never been an issue again.   I think when you're ready you do it, you move on, grow up and re-discover your goals.  Life can be difficult, but only if you let it get the best of you.  Over the years we both lost one of our parents, his father suddenly, my mother through a year long battle with cancer. We struggled with our ex's, job losses, money,  kids, kids and more kids!  But through it all we re-discovered our Faith in God, & that got us through a lot.  We also discovered how much friendship, communicaiton, and commitment mean in a marriage.  Life is a journey, a wonderful one, sometimes you have to widen out your vision, look around, take a deep breath and enjoy.  Usually the simple things are the best things!  I am blessed to have you all in my life right now, I am grateful for this place. 

You all have a wonderful weekend!