When I first met my future husband, I weighed 98lbs. I had just graduated with an Honours Degree in English Literature from the University of Regina and considered continuing my studies as a graduate student. I loved everything about academia, especially the relaxed but challenging experience of reading Chaucer and Old English in the original vernacular with only one other student in a professor's office; this teacher was delighted to find two students interested in his life's work.
I loved my life and didn't for see any changes. I had grown up with one sister, ballet lessons and a library filled with great fiction. I enjoyed gardening, painting and drawing, eating a vegetarian diet, reading spiritual literature and growing in my faith ; I was content.
Suddenly, my life as I knew it, changed dramatically.
I met Michael, who was just passing through Regina, Saskatchewan from Ottawa, Ontario to Prince George, British Columbia and from that very first encounter it felt like a rug was ripped from under my feet; all my plans were tossed into the prairie wind.Michael described our first encounter in much kinder terms; he said that he saw fireworks when he first laid eyes on me.
However all that studying did little to prepare me for the responsibility of mothering a fragile, completely dependent newborn.For example as I held my baby in a small bathtub for his first bath, I was very nervous. Guess what? I had a book propped open with one elbow awkwardly holding it open to the right page. The book was like my security blanket.
My new husband, who was the second oldest of ten children and completely relaxed with babies, walked through the kitchen, shook his head in disbelief and said,
"Melanie, there are some things you just can't get out of books."
Beautiful! And years later, you have nine children with him. I am so happy for both of you! Love at the first sight that last a lifetime!
ReplyDeleteI realize that I am very, very lucky
DeleteFunny story, I can just imagine how much harder it was to bathe a baby while trying to keep the book open and dry!
ReplyDeleteI was so much your opposite. I never even thought of going to college. All I wanted was to live on a farm, get married and have babies. So, I married an intellectual from Detroit and became a vegetarian!
That is Hilarious. Isn't it how God works? Come to think of it, your husband looks like an intellectual BUT he says that YOU are very intelligent!
ReplyDeleteSee he is smart.
ReplyDeletesmile, wide grin
Deletemelanie