Our Life – A Monthly view of the Ups and Downs – Part 2

1982 through 1987

Dating David was fun.  We loved movies, books and being outdoors.  We still did lots of things in groups but our one-on-one dates were the best.  We could talk about anything!

During our dating time, we did not have any dramatic break ups or anything to crazy.  We just really got to  know each other.  Later on in our story you will see that this was time well spent for us.

In 1982, I got my first “real” job working in a commercial real estate company.  At about the same time, David started working with an electrical company (he was in tech school).  Our lives were progressing nicely.

At the beginning of 1984, we decided to get married.  There was no proposal and I was okay with that because we knew this was where we were headed.

The date:  August 11, 1984

We got married at St. Ignatius Catholic Church here in Nashville.  It was a simple Catholic wedding with full mass.  My parents nor his were wealthy so our wedding was not a huge affair.  There were about 100 or so people in attendance.

At 1 PM the ceremony began.  My friend DeAnna was my matron of honor and David’s brother John was the best man.  The rest of the bridal party consisted of my sister, a couple of my friends at the time, David’s other brothers, my uncle and our BIL, Rick.  My Mom did all the flowers, candles, and other floral arrangements.

During the ceremony, I reached up to wipe the sweat off David’s face.  In that moment, I knew in my heart that we would be together forever.

We honeymooned at Panama City Beach as every good Tennessee couple did in the 80’s!  We had a great week together and when we came home, we moved in to my little one-bedroom apartment with our cat, Muffin.  I can tell you this, I am not sure I could live in 675 square feet today.

Apartment Life

In that little apartment, we established life.  We worked, came home, took care of our cat and continued to form a bond that has with stood the ups and downs of nearly 35 years of marriage.

In the Spring of 1985, with the help of his parents and mine, we purchased our first home.  1100 square feet with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a kitchen so tiny that you could not open the oven door without blocking yourself in!  We loved it!  It had a huge backyard and during our time there, we added a sweet German Shepard puppy (Rocky) to our lives.

We only lived there for about a year and a half,  and then we purchased our second home.  It was a bit bigger about 1700 SF with 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms and a nice fenced in backyard.  Rocky loved the yard and we had a nice deck.  We could finally grill out!

In 1987, we decided to start a family.  This is where our troubles began and my selfishness and stupidity almost cost us our marriage.  It would take some time to get to this point.  From 1987 to 1993, we tried to get pregnant.  I will say that this part of our lives was the darkest time for us.  If it was not for my awesome husband and some serious conversations, there would be no children today and no story to share.

To be continued…

Kim