This week The Farmer and I will ‘celebrate’ 13 years of wedded bliss. And by ‘celebrate’ I mean, ‘carry on’… business as usual, just as we have for the 12 years preceding this year.
Marriage is a rollercoaster; lots of ups and downs. Thankfully the peaks and troughs seem to be reducing as the years pass.
This week I have spent some time remembering a few of my favourite events that have occurred in the past 13-odd years.
2002 – The Farmer and I travelled Europe for 10 months together. We lived and worked on a farm in England during that time and spent time backpacking afterwards.
This was our ‘make it or break it’ trip. Nothing tests your relationship like hanging out with someone 24 hours a day, seven days a week for months on end.
There were plenty of tears (of sadness and happiness) but mostly it was a reminder that we could do this whole marriage thing.
2003 a – My family were out west visiting me over the Easter break. The Farmer took me out to one of the dried up house dams, and after a speech about how this was the farm at its worst, and hopefully things could only get better, he asked me to marry him.
2003 b – There had been a severe drought leading up to our wedding. We chose to get married at the coast. I had grown up there, so it was special to me. We thought it would make a nice holiday destination for travelling guests, and beach photos would be a nice addition to our farm house.
The week we married rained like I had never seen, so much so that several guests couldn’t get home afterwards. The drought broke with a vengeance that weekend. The wet weather photos are still a lovely addition to our farm house.
2005, 2007, 2008 – The arrival of our three children has been both chaotic and an absolute blessing. My children have the ability to make me laugh and cry. I am so incredibly proud of them and am loving watching them grow into the amazing little people they are becoming.
2016 – We have travelled, made purchases, moved between life stages, loved, cried, yelled and laughed. Sometimes I feel like we are the most mismatched people I know. At other times we are so supportive and encouraging of each other that I wonder what I ever did without him.
If someone had told me 15 years ago that I would marry a farmer and end up living permanently off the sealed roads in western Queensland, I wouldn’t have believed it. And now I can’t imagine it being any other way.
Happy 13th anniversary CP!
You can find me on Facebook and Instagram at: @jessthefarmerswife