Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Look Mom, No Hands!

Stamps: Pink Cat Studio; Sentiment by ?
Paper:
Imaginisce
Ink: Memento Black; Copics
Other: Nestabilities; Oval punches and Word Window punch from SU!
Card Measures 5.5 sq



Hello Friends! Thanks for coming by my blog today!

I titled today's post "Look Mom, No Hands!" But I should have titled it "Look Mom, No Embellishments!" This is HIGHLY unusual for me. I feel like a card is "incomplete" without an embelli...or two...or three...! But this card had such busy paper and a big image, that I felt like anything else would be too much. So I cut a few little mushrooms out of the DP, stuck them on there and called it done. What do you think...should I have something else? Some Brads? Some Ribbon?

I am happy to say that although it is still cool here (50's) it is suppose to be sunny all week! Yay! no rain! The kids can get out and play! Maybe even ride their bikes. :) If I catch them riding around in a basket like Lily is, though, they are in big trouble!

On another note, I think I will give this card to my Muffin. (lol...my husband) This coming weekend my hubby and I will have been married for 13 years. (can you believe I was just 8 years old when we got married?! heeheehee!) We were introduced, and about an hour later he asked me to go to his brother's wedding with him....in Ireland. (In case you are new around here, my DH (and my mom) are both from Ireland.) The wedding was about 5 weeks away. I said yes. I figured, hey-why not! He seemed harmless. And he was paying! LOL! If something went terribly wrong while I was there, I had my moms family and friends for support. So five weeks later we were off to Ireland. By then, I was head over heels in love. (aaaaaaaaaaaaaaw!) He asked me to marry him while we were there. We planned a wedding for 18 months away. I moved in with Pat. Five months later, on my 21st birthday I found out I was pregnant. April Fools! NOT! oooops. Better move up that wedding! LOL! So we got married on the date we planned to get married one year early. April 18th, by a JP....only my mom and sisters and 2 friends were there. We didn't tell anyone and just figured we would continue with our plans for the following year with the big church wedding and reception...blah blah blah. At the time I had no health insurance...so that is why we did the legal thing...so I and the baby would be covered under DH's insurance, no questions asked. My mom wasn't thrilled that I had gotten pregos prior to being married...but she was supportive. Thank Goodness. However, DH's family....not so much. They were worried about what the neighbors would think! Um, Pat was 31 at the time and had lived on his own in America for 10 years....and they were worried about what the neighbors would think!?! Me being 21 and very American didn't get it. ( I should add that at the time, at least, and Pat's family being very old Irish-Catholics....we couldn't really tell them that we had already gotten "legally" married. That just isn't (or wasn't) done there. There was the church and that was it!) Anyhow we were able to move the whole she-bang up to that June. I was so sick (morning, noon and middle of the night sickness for all 37 weeks!) that my wedding gown (bought prior to finding out I was pregnant), had to be taken in. So at least I didn't look like a blimp. :) And the wedding facility had conveniently finished an addition (new room) early so they were able to accommodate us since they had not started booking that room yet. DH's parents and most of his siblings came over from Ireland for the wedding. His dad was very ill while here. He died several months later. One week before Declan was born. He would not have made it to our wedding if we had waited and gone with the original plans. It was not until he returned to Ireland that he was diagnosed with cancer. But he kept saying how happy he was that he was able to be at Paddy's wedding. Pat and his dad were very close. The siblings (Pat is the oldest of NINE...7 boys, 2 girls) always joked that If Dan (Pat's dad) said the sky was green then Pat would agree and vice versa. So I guess it was all meant to work out the way it did. I am a big believer in God's plan and Fate.
Anyhow, this weekend Pat and I won't celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary. LOL! We usually do that in June. But still, technically, we will be married 13 years this week. How time flies! That man can drive me bananas. But I can't imagine not having him. I can't imagine that anyone else would put up with me! We are far from a romantic couple...LOL...But I am interested: How do you celebrate your anniversary?

Well, now that I have shared entirely way too much info, I better go! It's another 2 AM posting here.

Have a Quixotic Day!



Edited to add: Food for thought: Did you know that the divorce rate among marriages with Special Needs children is 80%. 85% with Autism specifically. And I suppose our chances of still being happily married 13 years later after our "whirlwind" start were pretty slim too. In fact, we were told by more than a few priests that they would not marry us because they felt our relationship needed more time. So you know what I want to say to them: Nanananananaaaah! ;)

28 comments:

scotspanda said...

What a lovely story! Like you Ian and I were a bit of a whirlwind, I stayed over with him after a week and basically never slept in my flat again.......I gave it up after 3 months cos I was never there lol We were engaged within 6 months and married a year later. Ian is 23 years older than me and I was 21 when we got married. We will have been married 13 years on 15 June. When we decided to get married we had just close family, 20 in total and arranged it in 3 weeks, all my family thought I was pregnant but I wasn't and in fact it took 7 years for us to be blessed with Lily. How lovely that Pats dad got to come to the wedding too, as you say if things had happened differently he wouldn't have been there. My father in law actually died on our 4th anniversary, so we renewed our vows when Lily was christened and we planned to celebrate on that day instead altho it never feels right and we are back to celebrating in June

I hope you have a really lovely anniversary :o)

lotsalove

Amanda xx

Cheryl said...

Hi Kerry! Great story! DH and I just celebrated our 17th on April 11! No two years have been the same, but this year we went hiking in Ohio for the weekend! Had lots of fun! We were married on my parents 44th anniversary. This year they would have been married 61 years.

Cheryl said...

p.s. Love your wonderful card! YOur coloring is always inspiring, love the papers, too!

Tracey said...

Congratulations on 13 years Kerry! Love your card! It hink it looks awesome just as it is!! xx

Kathy W said...

Congrats on lucky 13- we celebrate 14 this year. It is great your FIL got to be there for your wedding, my mom died of cancer 3 days before mine happened.

The card is great- the popped up mushrooms can act as embellihments and great paper too.

Stef H said...

What a beautiful story (and great wedding pix)! DH & I met as a blind date fix-up and hit it off immediately. We dated 7 years before marrying as he said he "wanted to be sure"! Now, whether he's sure or not, he's stuck with me. We got married January 2, 2000. He says that 2000 was a good year to get married. That way, each year, he knows what anniversary it is. AND, believe it or not, we don't celebrate it - or birthdays! Why? you wonder! Because EVERY DAY is like a birthday or anniversary! We do what we want, celebrate all the time and spend our days laughing. AND, every day we say I love you to each other. I think we've only had 3 fights in the 16 years we've been together! I am truly blessed - as are you!

Hugs,

Stef H said...

P.S. Great card even w/o embellis!

Tamara said...

This is an absolutely fabulous story. Thanks for sharing with us, and letting us into your life.

I am not married, but I have been with my partner for 7.5 years (since we started dating) and we have been living together for 5 years. We celebrate the day we first met because it was a really great first meeting story, and things just spiraled from there.

We don't do anything really special for our "anniversary", but we always make time to go out for dinner and spend time together.

Anonymous said...

Kerry, congrats on 13 years of marriage. That's a feat for any couple much less a couple with a special needs child. We were told the statistics by our OB-GYN when we found out our son would have Trisomy 21. She had a child with T21 herself & passed along a few valuable pieces of advice that helped us. I love the Lily & Billy card. It's very cheerful and fun even though it is embellie free. TYFS the card & the story!

Suzy said...

Congratulations on aniversary. I beliwe sometimes its dificult, but with very much love, you can do it.
At begining of may, we will have 24th anniversary of our weding. Uh. So many years. And howe we celebrate? Usualy we go out for a dinner or just pizza or so.

Suzy said...

Oh. I forgot to say howe nice card.

Lorie said...

That card is fantastic Kerry. Thank you for sharing your story with us. Congratulations on defying the odds for 13 years! Have a wonderful day! :o)

Michelle Quinno said...

First off, I love the card just the way it is. I love Lilly stamps!!!

Second, congrats on your anniversary. What a beautiful bride....and you didn't look like you were having morning sickness! That's a sweet story!

Michelle Quinno said...

p.s. I got married as a child (2 weeks after my 18th bday). Everyone thought I was pregnant but I wasn't. We waited 9 yrs. to have a child. We celebrated our 30th last year!!

Danni said...

Oh I love to hear stories how people met, no matter how young they were, heheehe! How wonderful!!
Love your card and you know me, I like the simple cards more often than not so it's perfect to me, lets you focus on that wonderful image!!

JillRv said...

I love your story! congrats on the 13 years thats so Awesome!I agree no embellishments needed! I have to say Your coloring is fab. youve inspired me to start stamping again and I have to say the coloring is a bit of a challenge for me! anyways. love the story, love the card! Have a great day And Congrats again!by the way your kids are adorable!

Jekka said...

Congratualtions on 13 years!!! Reading your story I could tell how blessed you and Pat have been. It was a wonderful glimpse into your life.
My husband and I would have been married 11 years this October. However we seperated in February and are planning a divorce. Prior to that we always celebrated our anniversary with a vactation to some type of motorsports event. We were married at a racetrack on the start/finish line during a Busch Grand National Event.
I love your card but I think maybe a small ribbon would have been just the think to finish it off.--JMO :>)

MarieL said...

What a beautiful story Kerry. Congratulations for making it through all the challenges.

Also love the pretty card.

DH and I got married as kids. It was 38 yrs ago, last November. We are not the celebrating type, so nothing special on the day of our anniversary. He too asked me if I would marry him after only about 5 days and I said, sure. We met on April 30th and were married on Nov.5 in the town hall and on Nov. 27th in church. In this case I am the foreigner and he is the american. All my aunts thought I was pregnant.... but I wasn't.

Kerry, I wish you and Pat a wonderful day and many happy years together.

Pia said...

Kerry,
I love your story! Congrats on your 13th anniversary. Enjoy it-celebrate now and then, you deserve it! No one ever tells you how hard being married is--it is not all fun and games!
Have a great week, I will catch up with you soon.

susan said...

Congratulations, Kerry, no matter what day you and your hubby celebrate! It take s lot to make a marriage work these days. I, too think that God wanted your husnad's Dad to be at your wedding and that's why everything worked out the way it did.

We are celebrating our 25th anniversary TODAY! We met on a blind date, arrange by my EX-Husband's AUNT!! Now there's a twist! I often tell my husband that I had to go through the first "experience" in order to finally meet HIM. When you think about it, how else would I have met my present husband, right?
We got engaged 4 months after we met and were married 2 months later. My husband is the nicest person I have EVER met. I have been truely blessed. He helped me care for my elderly parents and they lived with us. And, who else, would put up with me recusing all my cats! Hehehe!

Basement Stamper said...

We have too much in common besides our love for eclair cake ;-)

I will be married 13 years this year...in JUNE!

I found out I was pregnant on April 1rst with Finley.

Oh, and did I tell you I like chocolate? Thanks for the adorable mouse card too...I haven't send an e-mail but I did receive it.

Debbie Fisher (debbiedee) said...

great story! DH and I will celebrate 20 yrs in June!

Elena said...

Thank you for sharing your story, Kerry! Ilove your wedding picture!
We were not in all of the troubles with my DH, but some of his relatives still think that he is crazy to marry Russian Girl. Of course our age difference also effects it... But I am happy that Ken is with me - I think he is my man... Of course, I feel so sorry for him - having a wife like me is not easy!
Love your card, Kerry! I think it doesn't need any embellishments! You did fantastic job!

Sharon Caudle said...

What a wonderful post, Kerry! I so enjoyed reading your story! Me and my dh met and fell madly in love. Since it was our second time for both of us, we waited a whole seven years before actually tying the knot, even though we lived together the entire seve years. We met 21 years ago this summer, and will be married 14 years in August. And it feels like we're still newly weds. LOL! That's the best part of all of it.
A huge congrats on your wedding anniversary, and here's to the two of you having many, many more years of happiness!
hugs
Sharon

MJ said...

Happy Anniversary to you both! I had forgotten this story and how close it is to ours. Funny. We can never decide which one to celebrate either. I absolutely love your card. I still have full sheets of rubber not even cut of the original Lilly and Billy. They are so cute. I really should get them out and use them, I am so lazy though and hate cutting them out, lol.

I added your blinky thing too my blog--thanks.

Adair said...

Congratulations, Kerry! What a wonderful story! My wedding was not so whirlwind. As a matter of fact, our story starts out that we met while at a car show out of state that we both traveled to in the same caravan of old cars. We met at the show, had a good conversation together. However, my mom and her friend "set me up" with a blind date for that day. While my now husband, Charlie, and I were in the middle of a good conversation, my "blind date" showed up. Charlie though I was a rude person (OK...he really didn't use that word) and didn't like me at ALL. However, we met again at the Christmas party with the same car club a few months later and were together until we married.

Robin said...

Happy Anniversary!!!! What a wonderful story..I will have been married 26 yrs in Sept. I was also pretty young "20"..Had my DD 8 yrs later and my son 5 yrs after that.I was in the hospital trying to have my son on our 13th anniversary and the nurses came in and said oh, you already have roses, I informed them that it was my anniversary...What a way to spend it...So, we always try to go out for dinner, because usually we are celebrating a birthday...

PaperAddictJenn said...

Thanks for sharing the wonderful story! It's amazing how a few years change the feel of a story. I'm sure the beginning was stressful, but look at all you have now! My husband and I married before we had known each other a year and will celebrate 10 years this November.

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