How It All Began

Today (Oct 7, 2014) I had one of those nostalgic moments where you look around and realize that life has come full circle in a wonderful way.  I took the kids to their favorite park.  It's not anything super special.  It's one of those big wooden parks that you see everywhere, really fun, but pretty typical, except that this particular park has played a huge roll in our life.

I was following Westin at his request as he weaved in and out of all the different structures.  He was having such a great time and the other kids had found some new friends to play hide and seek with.  As we walked into the park today I noticed the sign that said: EST 2002 and as I walked around, I was transported back in time.  Why is this park so important?  Well, this park was where Clint and I had our very first date almost exactly 12 years ago (Oct 12, 2002).  No, we didn't go to a park filled with kids and steal the swings . . . we helped build it.  You see, Clint and I met in 2002 and at the time, this park was under construction.  It's one of those parks that was built by the community with donations from the community and it has beams with names of donors everywhere.  I really wanted to go build it, so I invited Clint to come with me.  We went with several of my friends and worked for several hours, then went to dinner with another couple.  One year later, we returned for a picnic dinner date.  And then later, we returned with Jackson, we let him play, then we walked around looking at some of the names on the beams, this was when we came across the name Westin and said that if we ever had another son, that is what we would name him (everyone thought Jackson was named for me, which he is not, but we figured we should name a kid for Clint, whose middle name is Wes and we really liked Westin when we saw it).  And now  . . . 12 year later, here we are, married 10 years and bringing our 5 wonderful children to play at the park where it all started.

As I wandered around, I found myself smiling and reminiscing in that obnoxious sappy movie kind of way.  The playground hasn't changed much over time.  It's older and a little weathered, it has some areas that need to be worked on, but it is essentially the same . . . still fun, still strong and still filled with joy.  I think we are kind of like this playground where it all started.  We have definitely aged and weathered over the last twelve years and the five kids have surely contributed to this.  Like any married couple, we have some areas that we need to work on (there's always room for improvement) . . . but we are essentially the same.  We are strong, we are happy, joyful and still very much in love.  We chose well 12 years ago.  We were lucky to find in each other, someone to weather storms with, someone to share joy with and someone to celebrate life with.  I thank God for that park, it gave me a reason to spend some time with a man I wanted to get to know better and the courage to ask him (since he was not making any bold moves ;-)