#354 {Birds of a Feather!}

How is it possible that 10 years can go by so fast?  Is it possible that life speeds up the older I get?  There has been so much that has changed in our lives since this perfect day in May 10 years ago.  We started by buying a 100 year old house in Durango,
painting it purple and calling it home.  Over the years, we have moved from that first house, into a turn-key condo and then eventually all the way across the country to Florida, a decision we still talk and question at least once a month.  We have become parents to three
amazing children and a neurotic golden retriever (along with a guinnea pig and hamster).  We have grown in our parenting over the years from nervous, hovering parents with our first child to simply enjoying the ride with our third child.  We no longer are reading ” how to” books on parenting and in fact think we could probably write our own, funnier version of a parenting tutorial (hello, can you say cocktail hour, that’s how you cope people!), but seriously where do people with three children and a career a find the time?  We have had to say goodbye to one great-grandparent, two cats, four hermit crabs and our beloved Bernese Mt. Dog, Murphy, who will forever be our first “baby”.  Business’ have been open and closed.   We have each owned our own companies and have discovered that we both like to be the boss and therefore, don’t work well together.  At the end of the day, someone needs to be in charge, and I would like for that someone to be me:).  We have learned the difference between a $10 and $85 bottle of wine and have discovered we generally enjoy something in between.   We have discovered that it is possible to love and loathe someone at the same time.  We have travelled to over 11other countries together and will never again under-estimate the importance of flexibility, Imodium, and knowing how to drive a stick shift.  I have memories from each of our adventures that are far more valuable than any handbag or piece of jewelry I own.  We have spent months in therapy and then spent equally as much time laughing about the therapist’s we’ve endured.  It’s been 10 years, none of which have been perfect.  But I suppose it’s the not so perfect moments that make us, us.  So as I write this blog, we are in the midst of packing up our two girls and newborn son to take them back to where it all began.  Montego Bay, Jamaica.  I am excited to show my children the beach where we were married, explain to them the promises that we made and show them how we have stood by those commitments, even when life gets messy.  Most of all, I am excited to stand on that beach again and reflect on just how far we’ve come.  And with any luck, we still have years to go!  Happy 10th Z.

Zak and our dear friend, Lynn, who took almost all the photos you see above!