Feel Sorry for Me??

The BEST reason to HAVE to miss a concert

Senior Prom

So young!

I am going to play the "woe is me" card for just a minute. You see the sweet couple in the pics above? That was Rhyne and me almost 19 years ago! We are one of the few couples who psychiatrist would love to analyze because we have been together for almost 20 years!! We went from first love to dating through high school and college to married, and only took a break for about 3 months! I know this is not normal and many psychiatrist would argue that we have an unhealthy relationship - well, I disagree - it has worked for us!! I am a hopeless romantic. I am not as hopeless as I once was - kids change that! But every now and then there is a moment where my romantic/rose-colored glasses come on and I just can't help it! Any time I hear a song by Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Firehouse, Bryan Adams, and some more I am forgetting - I am instantly taken back to the carefree dating days of Beth and Rhyne. Those were OUR songs and made me fall in love with Rhyne many times over! Now that we are almost 12 years in to our marriage and chasing 3 kids and a black lab around, the carefree, romantic moments of dating seem sooooo far away and don't come as easily any more. I love my kids and my marriage, but sometimes I have to act like a spoiled little girl and say, "It's not fair!"

Let me explain:

A month ago, I saw an ad for a Bryan Adams concert in Baton Rouge. I called Rhyne and said we have to go - these are OUR songs - the soundtrack to our dating years!!! This would be one of those rare moments in our life now that would cause us to remember falling in love and help us reconnect - a part from the craziness of our season of life right now. Now let me state a disclaimer - I LOVE my husband, my marriage, my kids, and my life! I am just saying that life right now makes it hard to just sit around listening to 80's/90's love songs and gazing into each others eyes!! I saw this concert as a chance to feel like 15 year olds again! Rhyne got the tickets and I booked the hotel room and I COULD NOT WAIT!!! For those who don't know Bryan Adams look at "Heaven", "Please Forgive Me", "Summer of '69", "Everything I do" -just to name a few- on iTunes and see if it doesn't make you want to have a boyfriend!! Well, here is where I want some sympathy ----- the childcare we had lined up fell through (it actually fell through because God answered a prayer for someone we love, but that is another post)! We did not have a plan B for childcare. Because the concert was on a school night, I just couldn't ask any of our friends to handle my 3 for the night! I thought about plans for 3 hours on Tuesday night trying to make it work and I finally gave up and had a migraine to show for it! So here I sit typing this post instead of pulling into Baton Rouge right now with my sweetheart - the concert will start at 8pm and our seats will be empty! Don't you feel sorry for me!?

Now let me state this:

I have tried all day to feel sorry for myself. I really tried to be depressed about not getting my way. But I just couldn't do it. I have actually gone through my daily routine without resent. The reason all of my attempts to be mad and upset about not getting to spend the night with my sweetheart is simply, I can't. When I put my big girl pants on and stop to think about WHY we can't go to the concert, how could I be upset?? How blessed am I to have 3 kiddos that need me and love me?! God has called me to this job!! Now, I am a sinner, so I have had these "It's NOT fair" moments peak through all week, but in the big picture, I have peace. I know there will be other concerts or "just-me-and-him" get-a-ways, but it's hard to have a planned one slip away!! BUT I have peace that this is God's plan and He has something much better than Bryan Adams planned for me and Mr. Hooks real soon (please let it be real soon- we need it)!!

So now---

I am listening to my kids playing in the living room, trying not to watch the clock and count down to when the concert starts, and I am about to put in the Bryan Adams acoustic cd I have to take me back to the "good-ol-days" until I have to start cooking spaghetti!!!