61 Months Strong!

Hey, guess what? We did our first Spill the Beans of 2018! If you're new here, I'll catch you up by telling you that Ryan and I record a podcast (about a half hour in length) every week. We record it over the weekend and I do all my editing and polishing work on Mondays, and then we release it on Tuesdays. Always. Well, this week we were New Year's Eve-ing on Sunday, and then Ryan actually had a day off work at home on Monday, which happens pretty much never. So I calmed down my raging Type A-ness and decided to delay recording this week so the two of us could actually enjoy a holiday weekend together.

But calming a Type-A soul only works for so long, so we've now recorded this week's episode, and here you go! We've got some leftover Christmas stories (which are worth the wait) and my best foot-in-mouth moments from New Year's! Enjoy!

Listen here!

Meanwhile, we hit another Shafferland milestone this week. Sixty-one months of marriage! 

I remember (almost a decade ago now - GULP!) turning thirty and how fun it was to hit that milestone. My friends threw me a big party, one of my college roommates sent me roses, I had the day off work, and the whole thing was just fun.

And then I hit 31, and it was a complete letdown. No parties. No vacation days. No roses. Just another trip around the sun and (for me) the reminder that I still hadn't found Mr. Missing. It wasn't my favorite birthday.

I fear that anniversaries can bring along the same sort of womp-womp letdowns, so I wanted to guard against that as much as I could!

I mean, really. When you spend your 60th monthiversary morning sitting on the beach opening gifts and drinking coffee, and then you get to have a photo shoot and a lunch cruise, and you watch the sunset on the beach and have pizza and cupcakes for dinner, and oh! Did I mention it was 80 degrees? That's kind of hard to top, isn't it?

So for 61 months, we were at home, going back to work after enjoying a holiday, and oh! Did I mention it was -13 degrees? (Did you see the NEGATIVE in front of that number?) 

That pans out to a 93 degree difference in one month's time. Ryan has a cold, I can't move from our workouts, and 61 months could have been the day we checked into some sort of assisted living and chalked the celebrations up to a good run.

Or not.

We got up early and worked out together. Though this half of Shafferland doesn't find nearly the sheer joy in a workout that the other half finds, I was grateful for the chance to move about freely (physically speaking) and to tackle a workout together. There are some couples who would love that chance but don't have the good health to do it. 

Ryan went to work, and so did I, and by the time he came home for lunch, I had our alphabetical date collage all assembled. We spent some time talking over the memories of those dates and how fun they were. I think it's always good to remember the fun times, even if the present moment isn't the most fun you've ever had. (Hello sinuses and negative temps. I'm looking at you.) 

A couple of weeks ago, my mom had given us a gift certificate for cake at one of our favorite cake shops. We'd held onto it for this very day, and because Ryan got a little extra time at lunch, we zoomed on over and picked out our cupcakes! German chocolate for Ryan and Kahlua for me. (The coffee bean on top won me over.) We brought them home and devoured them - with coffee, of course.

Back to work we went, and at the end of the day, we relaxed on the couch with a new (healthy) breakfast casserole, fresh fruit, cold medicine, and candlelight. :) We binge-watched shows on TV, we talked over our Bible reading for the day, and we recorded our podcast.

Sure, it wasn't as extravagant a day as 60 months, but it was a good, strong day. One in which we were grateful for the mundane and easily-overlooked, like workouts, long lunch hours, free cupcakes and a night at home.

Happy 61 months, Ryan. I love this life with you!