Happy Anniversary

Today as I was driving back from taking Dillon to school I started thinking about what I would blog today. I really didn’t know. I started thinking that I would like to do another “series” (like “8 Things I Love AboutBJ") and I thought maybe in June. No sooner did I think that when I realized today is June 1^st. Today would have been mine and Bill’s 38^th Wedding Anniversary; however, we have been divorced for 18 years. My thoughts go deeper and then the tears begin to flow. Let me explain…

Bill and I were high school sweethearts that married immediately following high school. Well, wait a minute…5 days before I graduated high school. Mt. St. Helens erupted on May 18 postponing graduation from May 31^st to the following Friday, June 6^th. We married June 1^st. We began our family soon thereafter; no, not on our honeymoon! Nonetheless, our first little bundle of joy, our #1 Son, our BJ (Bill Jr.) was born the following May. His baby brother, Bryan, was born three years later in July to complete our perfect family of four. Life was perfect. I was married to my best friend. I had priceless little boys that were full of energy and full of life and helped shape me in to the woman I am today. (Note to self: hold back the tears. It’s hard to type with watery eyes.)

Our boys learned how loving parents nurture their offspring, who are united in parenting responsibilities and decisions, and parents… that when they were together…they were together. When we were married, we did everything together. If Bill was at the shop working I would often be by his side. When I ran my decorating business from home, Bill and the boys helped “doing freight”, stamping brochures, and fending for themselves when mom was gone in the evenings teaching others how to beautify their homes through home décor. Our boys grew up in a happy and loving environment until about our last year of marriage when things got rocky. Regardless, good parenting and loving relationships were instilled in them. We always said and still say “I love you” each time we see each other, talk to each other, or have a text conversation.

BJ, bless his sweet little heart and dynamic sense of humor, never let June 1^st go by without a phone call or text to his dad and to me…” Happy Anniversary”! To him it didn’t matter that we were divorced, he made sure to wish us a happy anniversary and acknowledge “this was the day you two married and then you had me and my brother”. I asked him once if he only blessed me with this phone call. And he proudly said, “heck no, I call dad too!” “Oh, how he must love that!” I would respond. Apparently, my former “other half” would just roll his eyes (if only over the phone) and I am sure say something smart a$$ like back to our #1. I, on the other hand, would just laugh. I think mostly because BJ was entertaining that way; but I also knew he never forgot. No matter where he was in life, BJ never forgot his roots and how the home he grew up in was built on love and unity.

So, even from Heaven, BJ manages to tell me “Happy Anniversary, Mom”. Otherwise I likely would not be full of tears and be able to not only remember those once a year phone calls from him. But, I also remember a part of my life I would never change. A marriage that died, but the love survived and grew from a family of four to a family that added spouses, grandchildren, and another little brother (whom none have ever referred to as a “half” sibling).

Thank you, BJ, for always reminding me on June 1^st Happy Anniversary” is in order. The anniversary date of where our story began.