Never Take Him for Granted

         

By: Samantha S. Daviss

I know every girl has an awesome story or two to tell about their man and how he surprised her with something, or bought her something she never even expected; but my husband did one of the most romantic things I have ever received…and that was my most favorite thing to do in the entire world, and that is to travel.

He surprised me with a trip, recently. Our stars had aligned and apparently Congress had passed another bill allowing this to happen, and that was the gift of us having a few days alone together. So we knew we wanted to go somewhere, but he insisted on handling all of the arrangements. So I put my Type A personality to the side, and relinquished all duties. It was kind of exciting.

I knew we were going somewhere, but I had no idea where. I figured since we both love the Texas Hill Country so much, that we would jump in the car and head south for a few days. Taking in some wineries, maybe climbing Enchanted Rock outside of Fredericksburg, all the great stuff we love doing down there.

But I didn’t ask, I didn’t want to know; I was having more fun not knowing, than I was wanting to figure it out. All he did tell me was to pack a swimsuit and a sun dress or two. Now immediately our minds go to the beach…and that makes the most sense, but in Texas that could just be the staple requirements to beat the Texas summer heat.

So the night before our trip, I threw a few things in a bag, and I was ready to go. We headed north towards the airport, so this was already shaking down to be a different trip than I anticipated. We typically fly out of Love Field, because we love Southwest Airlines so much; but we zipped right passed the Lemon exit and headed up to DFW (Dallas/Ft. Worth) airport.

I still had no idea where we were headed. He dropped me off at the curb and handed me my boarding pass to get through security, and it was a DFW to San Francisco boarding pass. So of course I was thrilled with that. It is one of our most favorite cities. But it was funny, the first thing that crossed my mind was that I was going to have to buy a sweatshirt or something upon arrival; since the temperatures get a little chilly there; and I totally packed wrong for San Fran.

So the flight was great and we arrived safely in San Francisco. As we got off the plane he told me he was hungry so I suggested going to grab a bite at Fisherman’s Warf. But he lingered around the terminal area for a while…I was a little perplexed. Then I asked “We aren’t leaving the airport are we?” He just grinned. At that point I realized we had another flight to catch.

We sat around and ate and had about a two hour lay-over. Soon he told me it was time to board again, still having not the faintest idea of where we were headed, I got to our gate, and at that moment the sign for our destination flashed up…and it said “Los Cabos”.

I lost it…I just turned and looked at him and said “Thank you! Thank you for doing this, and thank you for loving me this much; I’ve never had this before.” So like two girls we are both standing there hugging one another in the terminal, he is smiling with a tear or two in his eyes; but I am bawling like a big ol’ baby! It was that ugly cry, you know, where your entire face wrinkles up and no amount of makeup can make you look pretty.

And I wasn’t crying for the destination, although I adore Cabo San Lucas, it is gorgeous; I was crying over the thought, the effort, and the amount of time he had to put into this trip to make it happen without me having a clue.

That is what romance is to me. It’s that old cliché … “It’s the thought that counts”. And that is so true for me, I don’t care what we do, what we have, or where we go…it’s just the fact that you thought about me, what I might like to do, and making it happen.

I was married once before, and never felt special in his eyes. I know that seems kind of sad to say, but I never felt like I was of importance to him. But I feel so blessed and protected with my husband now, that I know I am always on his mind; along with the kids too. We are his number one priority and I have never felt that before.

We live such a crazy hectic life, between his work schedule and the kids’ activities, that sometimes it is so important that we just take a time out together. Whether it is to the local coffee shop to chat, or a nice tropical vacation to really reconnect and “date” again; never taking each other for granted or our love for one another for granted is imperative in our relationship.

Always, always remember, you fell in love with that person for one reason or another; so keep that reason alive on a daily basis. You have to work really hard at marriage, it is not a one way street, and it is and always will be a team effort.

Older than Dirt at 38?

By: Samantha S. Daviss

This past weekend I was so blessed to get to see one of my college sorority sisters and spend some much needed time with her. She is one of a kind and I love her dearly, but she lives thousands of miles away in Africa, where she and her family are doing an admirable job for our society; but nonetheless, I miss her like there is no tomorrow. She is the kind of friend that completes my thoughts without me saying a word, she totally accepts my fowl mouth (in fact she makes mine look clean), and she has been one of my biggest fans through all my ups and downs in life.

Since she is gone so much, a group of us got together from college and let it be “her weekend”. So of course I had to give her a hard time about her choice of activities, and that was to going country western dancing; so I felt it was my duty to remind her that that was an activity we used to do together circa 1996, when we were still young and cute and in our very early 20s. However, it was her weekend.

My husband wasn’t nervous, but the thought of us at a country western bar made him a little uneasy, so I put him at ease by reminding him that they are all 40, and I am rubbing shoulders with it. Now none of us look just awful, but we certainly aren’t those 20-somethings out on the dance floor in tube tops. I’m thinking that a mom’s muffin top won’t look that appealing in a tube top, just my opinion. I painted a very clear picture for him that all will happen is we will stand around the little table, drinking beer and watching all the activities of the evening.

But then, my prediction changed, I was in fact asked to dance. I have to admit it was a lot of fun, I hadn’t done it in so long, almost a decade; that I had forgotten how much fun the spinning, the two stepping, the twirling all was. But I sure got a lot sweatier and out of breathe a lot faster than I had in the past. But it was an adventure, that’s for sure.

So in typical fashion the guy who had asked me to dance started to make the typical “dance floor small talk”; he asked if we came here a lot, and of course I laughed and responded with “no, we are old and between us all we have 9 kids”.

Kindly he tried to tell me I wasn’t old. “You’re not old, my dad comes here every Saturday night; and he’s really old.” He said smiling.

“Well good for him”, I responded. “How old is your dad?”

“Oh he’s older than dirt, he’s 33.”

In my head I am screaming….”What the…, this kid has no idea what he is even talking about! He doesn’t know what old is.” I could out run, out walk, out lift, out do him any day of the week (thanks to the nonstop activities of my boys)…so I politely asked him, “Did you say he was 33?”

“Yeah, why?” he asked inquisitively.

I just giggled and said, in typical Texas fashion, “Oh, sugar, first of all you don’t know what old is, and for the record I must be dead in your eyes…because I am brushing up on 39 years old.”

I wish I could tell y’all the profanity he released, but I will spare you. And about that moment the song ended (thank goodness, because the conversation between us sure did). Do you remember the turtle that got left spinning in the middle of the road from the dust of the speeding cars passing by?  

 Well, that is exactly what I felt like, the turtle spinning on her tail in the all the dust and speed from him sprinting off the dance floor.

I don’t think that young man could have left me in his dust any faster than he did on that dance floor. Not that I wanted him to stay, but I just stood there laughing at how badly I freaked him out with my “old age”, and thinking how one day he will be here soon, and realize he is decades away from getting “old”. Life is just now really starting to get good for me.

So remember next time you look in the mirror and feel like you are aging, at least you don’t need to go pick out your headstone, like I do apparently.

Cutting the Cord

By: Samantha S. Daviss

Being a mother is one of the most demanding jobs…both physically and emotionally. You are blessed with this little baby that is completely dependent on you after nine months of nurturing it in your womb, or being blessed with it from another source (via surrogacy or adoption). But nonetheless, this person, this actual living human being is placed in your arms with a hardy pat on the back and you are sent on your merry way to raise it.

No instruction manual, no tips, nothing…maybe a few diapers and some formula, but that is about it. 

You just have to hope and pray from your experiences that you do the best job you can do not to “screw them up”. But with that come such love, admiration, and devotion to this little person you just met. Your heart is immediately changed forever…you finally understand what it means to feel love at first sight, to love someone so much you would die for them, and to have unconditional love; that no matter how much they screw up, you love them anyway.

It is a love that is indescribable. But as the time passes and years go by, you have to learn to let go, or “cut the cord”. Luckily it happens in progressive stages, but each stage is difficult for parents. First there is the first crawl and first step. That is their first movement towards their independence, to being able to go and do what they want to do without your assistance or guidance. Then there is the first day of school; that is probably one of the biggest challenges for parents. You have to drop this precious person off at a strange building, with a strange person (the teacher) who is going to teach, care and nurture your child for 8 hours out of the day.

Then comes the sleepovers with friends. When they are younger it’s not so bad, but as they get older and start driving and start dating, this is where it gets scary. Are they really at their said place, are they safe? We, as parents, have to relinquish some of our power and realize this is part of their growing up process, and trust them. They need to learn to handle themselves away from us, it is great social building blocks, and responsibility enhancement tools. But still the fact remains, that you are totally and completely in the dark of their safety, their whereabouts, their anything. You are not in control—and that right there is the biggest issue parents have to understand and come to terms with.

And the biggy…the double whammy…graduation and college. I guess it is best they both happen so closely together, because if they didn’t most parents would go crazy. They graduate from high school, while entering adulthood, and then three months later you are supposed to send them off to college, in a strange town, with thousands of strangers, in a strange dorm or apartment, and they haven’t the slightest clue as to how to do their laundry, put their dirty dishes in the sink, or iron their shirt. So it’s do or die, sink or swim for them.

As a mother, the pain we feel from setting these little creatures free into the wild, is the most daunting emotional task we will ever sustain. But it has to be done. We can’t keep them under our wings forever. They must experience life on their own, but we still have the comfort of knowing they will still come home, they aren’t completely out from under our wings. They need to go on spring break trips with their friends (hit the slopes or lie on the beach), the time of family vacations is coming to an end. If you are lucky you may get to squeeze a summer trip in there, but for the most part this is their time to fly. They need to stay on campus on the weekends and go to the football games, hang out with their friends, and just be young carefree adults; not be expected to run home every weekend.

But finally, the end comes to a close. Don’t worry parents they will always love you, need you, and miss you. But the time has come for them to be set free. Whether or not they get married after college or wait a few years; as hard as it is for us to relinquish the power, it is their time to live their own lives and make their own decisions. It is way more difficult for us, than it is them. As parents we forget that they are grown people, too, and they deserve the right to be asked…do you want to come home this weekend for a visit? Do you want us to come out there for a visit? Are you able to come home for Christmas? Or better yet, do they want to come home for Christmas? It can’t just be an assumption anymore on our parts, they deserve the courtesy to be asked these questions.

It is hard for us as parent to realize that just because they can’t or don’t want to come home, doesn’t mean they don’t love us…it just means that we did a good job. We raised healthy independent individuals that have established and created their own lives.

Parents need to cherish the memories, but don’t lay the burden of guilt on our kids if their actions aren’t exactly what we want them to be…because remember it is the circle of life. We have to learn to let go and let them live their lives the way they want, not the way we want them to live it. In our minds it wasn’t so long ago that they were this sweet helpless babies, but the truth is, it’s their time to experience their sweet helpless babies and feel that same love.