Eight years in.....

and, it is back to the dating scene once again. Last thursday, I told Mae that when I picked her up from school on Friday we would go to the grocery, and she would get to make dinner for her Daddy. They were going to have a special date night at home. As you can imagine, screams of elation echoed from her...a date night with her hero!! But, if you looked to the right just two feet, you would have seen a very disgruntled sourpuss face on the verge of eruption...that is until I announced that Whitt would be picking me up for a dinner date out. An open mouth smile with added fist pumping turned way to a contemplative look from my boy with this question, "Mommy, where would you like to eat Friday night?" With those few words, my heart swooned at my little man's thoughtful heart, and the anticipation began..... Of course, before any big date comes both the humbling and forth-telling process of "getting-ready" with girlfriends....except this time my "girlfriend" was my beautiful brown-eyed girl. As she brushed, blow-dryed, and styled my hair with great care, Bruce walked past me pointing to the top of my head yelling, "It's a bug, It's a bug!!!" (Ok, I cannot believe I am about to divulge this, but I feel certain you will laugh so hard you might possibly wet your pants...so here you go! My complete embarassment for your entertainment...I have a small bump on my head that appeared during my pregnancy with Mae, and it grew just a bit with each consecutive pregnancy...yes, hormones cause some crazy things, and if you ask me, hormones are a sanctifying process in and of themselves), Now that the explanation is over...Continue.... Bruce: "It's a bug, It's a bug!!!" Mae, brushing my hair and with complete authority in her voice: "No, Bruce! That is mommy's brain." Bruce curiously comes to inspect Mae protectively yelling: "Don't touch it, Bruce!!!! That is where Mommy does ALL her thinking!!!" Next, I asked Whitt if he would like me to wear a dress or jeans. He very quickly picked jeans, then moments later very politely requested that I wear a WIG..... After all the eye-opening hoopla of getting ready, I listened as my big man whispered instructions to my little man in the back hall. Then as little feet scurried out the back door, ran around front, and the doorbell rang, those old, familiar butterflies flew out...as I opened the door to bright blue eyes with a crooked, wide smile, my knees buckled just a bit, and with a refreshingly beautiful open, loving, and eager heart, my little man looked at me and said, "Are you ready to go out with me?" My heart melted...it was one of those moments with the best kind of joy...the kind that is so full and big it physically hurts...where you wish it could last forever, but if it did, you are not sure you could take the sweet pain of it that long! It was some kind of night.... The next night I had a date with the original to celebrate eight years of marriage together, and as the butterflies fluttered and my knees buckled fully, I realized the two dates gave me a beautiful picture of a before and after, a past and present....that is, a fuller view of Michael...the qualities I most treasure in Whitt are pieces, the begotten parts of Michael in him....God's gift to me on our anniversary...a much deeper, sweeter, and wholistic appreciation for the man I had the privilege of marrying.... Eight years in, and with His blessings and mercies, the "dating" just keeps getting better and better. "O, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together." Psalm 34:3