P-Daddy in the House

Dana asked me to write something for her blog today.  My first response is “what am I going to write about?  I’m not a writer.”  Then I started to think and reflect on our marriage since we just celebrated our 7 year anniversary.  It’s hard to believe we have been together for over half of our lives (15 years) and married for 7.  We were 22 when we got married and couldn’t have been more excited.  Since we dated for so long, we didn’t want to wait long after college to begin our lives together. 

Whit was born in March, so Dana had to go back to school to teach for the last 6 weeks of school and then would have the summer off to spend with Whit.  We checked out several daycares for him and chose one and had him signed up to start in August.  As summer went along, Dana realized she could not leave him everyday and wanted to do whatever it took to stay at home.  This was a huge decision early on in our marriage.  We talked about it for weeks, going through and looking at what we would have to cut in order to be able to afford her staying at home.  In the end we came to the conclusion that it was best for all of us if she stayed at home and did what we had to do.  This is the best decision we have ever made.

Our marriage was on the fast track from the beginning.  We were married at 22, had Whit at 23, Cecilia at 25, and Brandon at 27.  After Cecilia, we thought we were finished having kids.  We had a boy and a girl and we were good.  Well, when Cecilia turned one, we started talking about the possibility of having one more.  With Whit and Cecilia, we found out the sex before they were born, but with Brandon we decided not to find out and have it be a surprise.  Brandon was the perfect completion to our family in that he was born on November 12 (the day Dana and I started dating in 2001) and we were able to name him after Dana’s brother.   It’s amazing how God works. 

As you can see, it has been a busy seven years, but I must say, I have the best partner to do it with.  I remember in college driving to Columbia to see Dana on the weekend, and having this giddy feeling and being so excited to see her and spend time with her.  I still get that feeling today, whether it is coming home from work or even if she is gone running some errands on a Saturday.  She gives me this tingling sensation just by smiling at me.  

The last picture below kind of summarizes our family (or our unit, as Dana and I say!).  We love spending time with each other and going of fun adventures together.  I am truly blessed.

Thanks for letting me stop by.

Patrick