So I am writing this post to announce that I was inspired by Tim and I am going to be participating in #100happydays.
Hah! Gotcha! Five bucks says Shannon and Ryan had the same reaction which was a verbal, "That's so great, happy for you..." with an internal, "um Rylee what?"
Do you remember in grade school when we had parties on the 100th day of school? For us we had a celebration of sorts and congratulated each other on being able to count to 100. Every student was asked to bring in 100 somethings that they had counted out on there own; penny's, q-tips, skittles, candy corn, etc. I don't remember what I brought but I do remember learning how to separate them into 10 groups of ten. Intro to multiplication! All of my education friends are loving this right now.
Well today marks our 100th day of marriage! We did it! We will celebrate that we have watched 100 episodes of TV or walked up the stairs to the apartment 100 times, or by counting the 100 items of dirty clothes that need to be washed. Or I could write a post of the 100 things I have learned from marriage so far! I could easily do it but let's be real, I just lost 3 readers right now for even mentioning a post so absurd. So instead I'll just do one set of ten. And rather than bore you with lectures of life lessons, I'll share a decade of moments from marriage so far that have made me laugh with joy.
Here goes:
10. At the beginning of October, the school nurse gave all the female faculty (which is the entire faculty... all girls school.) a pamphlet for a self-breast examination at the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It was sitting on our coffee table when Tim got home, he picked it up, looked confused, and then stated, "Well that is not something you would have found at the last house I lived in..." Right you are Tim Kenney.
9. I work in a school, this means I get up early and go to bed even earlier. On average, Tim stays up about 2 hours later than I do. One weekend night, I was in the bathroom and I heard him scream, "Gah, get in here! What is marriage good for if not that you warmed the bed before I got in it!" Always good to have a purpose.
8. I force Tim to do things that make him uncomfortable. Call it pushing him to the stretch zone or call me scared, either way it always works. When we moved in I had to convince Tim that it was okay to put a few holes in the wall, that we would patch it before we left and I was sure our landlord would understand. We have a 2 year lease after all! But then Tim saw the amount of holes I wanted to put in the wall. Proud to admit that the biggest hole comes not from my husband but from our professional contractor friend. Thanks Steve for easing my husbands conscience.
7. It is inevitable that a road trip with him means this is played via YouTube on our phones at least twice. And to think that before we started dating he had never seen a Veggietales movie! Proof that marriage is good for people.
6. After shopping around for a grocery store in Boston I settled on Wegmans. That's the wrong phrasing here; the heavens parted and Wegmans found me. Tim thinks it's annoying when people brag about their grocery stores but I haven't taken him with me yet. When I do, you'll know because he'll make me post a picture of him on the gram. I'll continue; I converted after my first trip. They have produce like Martin's, prices like Aldi's (for Boston standards), and bulk things like Costco. What's not to love? Exactly. They have parts of the store devoted to their "Family Pack" items in bulk and I am used to shopping for 9 so when I saw these deals I jumped. I came home that Tuesday night with Family Pack everything. And I mean everything. Who needs one pound of beef if it's cheaper for 6 pounds and you can freeze it! He laughed about that but it was the Mac-n-Cheese that put him over. He said something along the lines of "We aren't in college anymore and we don't have young kids, why would we ever need that much mac-n-cheese?!?!" I think we have eaten one box since then and he might have a point but historically I don't admit I'm wrong and these things have YEARS until an expiration date so...
5. In our apartment there is a spot between our living room and dining room that is extremely slippery. We are talking sliding around on wood floors in tennis shoes. It actually might be a safety hazard, our guests have even commented. But we didn't notice the depth of this problem until fall boots season when we wear socks the majority of our days. Tim has taken to not picking up his feet when he rounds the corner and instead lets the floor take him where it will. I'm more of the play it safe type and keep to the perimeter of the room and I walk only where the wall leads me.
4. Doing laundry seriously stinks. And it's even worse when you have to go down the stairs with two hampers/two suitcases/ and at least one reusable shopping bag, load everything into the car, drive to the laundromat, and quite literally air all of your dirty laundry. It's the pits. Which is why I avoid it at all costs. This lead to one of the more intense moments of marriage for me. There I was sitting in our Indiana Ford Taurus getting real with myself in the mirror. I remember saying aloud, "Rylee you can do this, you're married now." I then quickly slammed the vanity mirror, looked around to make sure no one was in any of the cars around me to witness my crazy, and confidently headed into Target to buy another pack of men's boxers and buy myself one more week away from that God forsaken place. All of the melodrama, I know. But at this point of the post, what else do you expect?
3. For many of our marital tasks, Tim and I have fallen into the geder stereotypes. I do the dishes, he takes the trash out. I mop the floor, he cleans the ceiling fan that I cannot reach. I pretend to be sleeping, he has to turn off Netflix. With exception, of course, to the fact that I am the one with the job paying for his education, we fit all of the norms. All of the norms but one, that is. This one norm that I cannot fulfill has caused me many an emotional break down. After a failed brownie attempt, Tim found me fetal on the kitchen floor. Once he caught me stabbing the burnt corn brean muffins. Poor corn bread muffins, it wasn't their fault. I'm not quite sure what it is, but baking is not my calling in life. I tend to get pretty torn up about this shortcoming, which is why Tim knows when I promise a friend that we will bring baked goods that it really just means that I am having a craving for his chocolate chip cookies. Marry your opposite because what good would it be to have two people who couldn't bake under one roof? No good, no good at all.
2. Still hard to believe that we are actually married and that I don't have to pack up and leave at the end of the week. As I experience what I hope is a natural adjustment period I will say something to Tim along the lines of, "Can you believe that we're married?" or "This marriage thing is kind of great." or even "they called us 'The Kenney's' that's weird." Without fail, Tim responds to each of my emotions with, "Wait, What?" and then scrambles around the room to get his bearings. I wish I could say it got funnier with time but you have to give him credit for the dedication to the joke.
The joy we have experienced from this vocation so far is truly immeasurable. 10,000 more decades of hilarity? Let me at em! And the graces... know how much we are appreciating your prayers in our newlyweddedness. Prayers back for you too.
actually, my reaction to the start of a new #100happydays was "NO!" but i am oh so joyful that you have had 100 wonderful days of marriage! i guess it's time for me to change your name in my phone :) bisous, bisous!!
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