For whatever reason the little man and I spent a chunk of yesterday afternoon looking through iPhoto. It started with him wanting to see some pictures from the 4th of July, so we did, but then we just kept going and going and going until we were looking at pictures of our dogs from eight years ago.
We used to take a LOT of pictures of our dogs, y’all.
And I’m not saying that we babied our dogs before Alex came along, but, um, look:
And in addition to loving our dogs to pieces (we still love our dogs, by the way – we just don’t obsess over them quite as much as we used to), we may have watched a little too much MTV, because, um…
OH YEAH I DID.
Not only did I go to an *NSYNC concert, but I spent an entire Saturday morning on the computer (dial-up internet, no less) trying to get the BEST. POSSIBLE. SEATS. for the concert.
I loved Justin. My friend Merritt loved Lance. And she would get VERY DEFENSIVE whenever people would imply that Lance might not be as vocally talented as the rest of the *NSYNC boys, to the point that when we would watch the live concert DVD (YEAH WE DID), she would often say things like “Do y’all SEE how hard he’s working? Do you see? He’s giving it everything he has! Everything!”
And WE WERE THIRTY.
But then everything changed.
For the better.
In a million different ways.
But you know what? Even though I wouldn’t trade my current life for anything in the world (hello? motherhood? you are awesome.), I still love looking back on that pre-young’un time of our lives. We had so much fun. We weathered some big ole (BIG! OLE!) storms, for sure, but we traveled, we went to movies, we played videogames into the wee hours of the morning (“Fusion Frenzy,” anyone?), we never missed televised SEC football games, and we didn’t think twice about spending an entire Saturday afternoon on the couch while we watched a “Real World” marathon.
Before “Real World” got all trashy and stuff, of course. Because I’m telling you, after the second New York season that puppy went downhill fast.
So what about you? Whether you’re married with kids or married without kids, what are some of your favorite early marriage memories?
And if you’re not married, what are some things you love to do as you bask in your glorious freedom?
Besides watching television shows that don’t have puppets and going out to dinner at restaurants that don’t serve chicken nuggets and sleeping as late as you please on Saturdays?
Not that I miss sleeping late, of course. But OH, the memories. Sweet, sweet memories. Precious memories of All The Sleep.
See y’all in the comments.
Oh sweet freedom! I do miss my Saturday mornings. And I miss just being able to pick up and go, with just my purse. No diapers, wipes, sippy cup, fruit loops. Actually, I miss my purse, too!
But I would trade my Woggie for a million handbags… not EVEN if they were Marc Jacobs!
I miss being able to travel more. We used to just get in the car and drive somewhere for the weekend. Those were the days! : )
what do you know? i just wrote a post about this. i’m onto you.
You just described us to a tee with your pre-Alex life (well – minus the NSYNC concert). ha!
I tell Scott all the time we should relish these weekends of sleeping late, watching movies all day long, and completely obsessing over our dog (including calling each other at work to talk in his voice) – because in 6 months – it is all going to change. :-)
And I can’t wait!
“We weathered some big ole (BIG! OLE!) storms, for sure, but we traveled, we went to movies, we played videogames into the wee hours of the morning (â€Fusion Frenzy,†anyone?), we never missed televised SEC football games, and we didn’t think twice about spending an entire Saturday afternoon on the couch while we watched a “Real World†marathon.”
And this is different…how?
The N’Sync part brought back memories. My sister and I went and took my girls out of school early that day and drove to Jackson to see them. They loved it and we all had a great time.
Thanks for the stroll down memory lane.
Well, we were only married for 9 months before kids. But, in terms of care free days and memories, it was going to his gigs (he played guitar in a Christian rock band) and going to movies. I love going to movies. That is what I miss most since having kids. That and sleep. Not very original, but I’m kind of boring.
Well I guess I am still a newly wed. We will be married three years in October and have known each other for four years. Me and my husband “Mikey” (thats his nickname) we love to go to Wilmington and do the ghost walk there. We also love going to antique stores and going to the book store. I love these moments with him because life is short and you should take in every moment you have with your family.
~ Molly P.
Ah, early marriage memories. They are sweet. We played a lot of nintendo, watched a lot of late night TV, ate too much chips-n-dip while watching that late night TV, and went for long drives. We also loved on our dogs a lot!
We played Tetris 2 in puzzle mode a lot and it was a little different, you had to place this one special piece to solve the puzzle or something like that. Well, one night we had spent lots of time staring at the screen trying to figure out just where the piece belonged. We gave up and went to bed. A few hours into our sleep I sat straight up in bed, pointed at the wall, and excitedly said something along the lines of “Honey, it goes right there!! Don’t you see? Right there, honey! That’s where the piece fits!!” My husband has never let me live that down! I try to keep my puzzle solving to a minimum before bedtime these days. :)
Sorry to hijack your comments. But, oh, what a fun topic! Happy Friday to you, Boomama!
Oh, the cheeks on that baby…
I miss the early marriage days of packing up and leaving town on a whim…going to the grocery store without distraction…being able to talk about anything with whatever words I wanted to…
I would have missed out on so much though…like when my 2 yr says, “mommy, I missed you.” The smiles and laughs from my 2 get me every time!
Praise Jesus that you followed up the *NSYNC revelation quickly with some of the cutest newborn pictures ever. That was smooth.
And we LOVED Real World, too! It was our favorite show (along with ER), pre-kidlets. Remember Rachael and Puck? :D
Oh my gosh. It was nice to walk out the door without someone pooping in their pants right before heading out.
Those were the days of watching a whole movie without pausing it one time since no one was coming down the stairs for their 512th drink of water before bed.
Or asking questions like, “Can I build a rocket and go to the sun to make popcorn?” in the middle of dinner, causing me to choke on my food.
They were safer times. But nothing I would trade for now.
Well, when my hubs and I met I was a 30 yr old widow with 2 small children. Babysitters were plentiful and we had “dates” all the time – LOL. Now we have added another child to our home and we have a 3 month old and dates seem like a distant memory – LOL! We are going to rectify that though! At any rate, we have only been married three years but my fondest memories from early marriage are from the church we attended when we were first married. We LOVED that church and Sundays were just my favorite day of the week.
I MISS marathon movie events-we would stay on top of all the new releases and attend movies AT THE MOVIE THEATRE (of all places!).
I MISS coming home from work, changing to PJ’s, grabbing a glass of wine and sitting down with a can’t put down kind of book and reading the night away.
I MISS the very impromptu parties we would dream up and execute on a moments notice.
I MISS the travel.
What has all of that been replaced with? My 5 year old son. An angel and a treasure from Heaven, because of whom a lot of the foregoing is no longer feasible (for the most part); BUT who delights me with his version of movies, a good picture/read to me story book and glass of soy milk and impromptu birthday parties.
God knew what He was doing when He gave me a child, a son to love and treasure and raise. That beats anything that came before, hands down.
Early in our marriage we traveled, went out to dinner with friends, spent entire days watching television, and did tons of rock climbing. Now after having four kids in less than 2 years we are lucky to find time for date nights! We do love those…
It is so cool to look back at all the pictures from times in our past. Memories… And I am jealous. I would have LOVED to gone to N Sync :)
Th N SYNC concert memories fill me with joy. I went to Backstreet Boys back in the day. I was much too old to be at BSB concert but go I did and it was awesomely bad.
Awe! Look at that sweet, itty, bitty, red, scrunched up newborn face! I could just eat him up!!!
Oh my goodness! He’s the cutest newborn ever!
I’m a little obssessed with all my Africa preparations since I leave in, oh 6 DAYS!! So I’m behind on my favorite blogs. But I had to comment on this post, even though I’m a little late. I love it! I am cracking up. We also had a way more love relationship with our dog than we do post baby. Poor thing. His world was rocked. :-)
I love the newborn picture of Alex! Ella was a c-section so I have a fondness for pictures like yours. So sweet!! He is precious!
My hubby and his friend used to have a canoe/camping business back in the day. We spent alternate weekends packing the food, putting up tents, toting canoes so others could enjoy the beauty of the Shenandoah. I was(and still am)not a big outdoor girl but we had some perfect moments floating down the river eating m&ms. Our oldest looked at pictures recently and asked us what happened? You guys used to be cool.