Tuesday, June 30, 2009

The Pair of Us

This card used the Adirondack Chair from Asela's "The Journey", I masked it to make the pair sitting here in the Pure Luxury Soft Sand. Base and mats are Garden Green, and embellished with the new adhesive nail heads.
A couple months after my husband and I began dating 13 years ago, he built two Adirondack chairs, one for each of us, to sit on the porch together. Like me, he likes making things with his hands. He's a man of few words, but this romantic gesture was loud and clear: he would provide a place for me and we'd always be together. In these low slung chairs you can't help but relax, and talk about happy times past and dreams for the future. We still have these chairs, they have been repainted three times. I'm glad he's a handy guy and knows how to fix things, so we can keep these chairs through whatever repairs they'll need and our memories of sitting in them forever.

They've been dragged all over our yard, to find the shade or get a better view of the kids, but we always keep them together. Most often they are parked in front of the Koi pond he dug and landscaped himself 6 years ago, shortly after the birth of our first child. He had just gotten laid off, and decided it was the perfect time to spend a lot of money building a pond, which he had always wanted-now he finally had the TIME to do it! (He's an eternal optimist.) With me not working and a newborn, I had to hold my breath and tongue about the wisdom of adding a pond then, but of course he found another job (better one) soon after, and that pond is still one of our favorite things about our home all these years later, it has given us thousands of hours of enjoyment. It was a great investment.

Every 3 years or so, the chairs need a new coat of paint or a bit of wood filler to heal the occasional crack. To me, they are kind of symbolic of changes that seem to happen in life every few years for our family, the good and the bad, the blessings and surprises; we weather through them.

These are just a few reasons why the best part of me is my husband.

23 comments:

  1. Beautiful card and a beautiful tribute to your wonderful husband!

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  2. *sniff sniff*... awwww I luv him too!!! Hee Hee I'm NOW an optimist because of MY hubby and I know how nice it is to have that in your life. Your card is beautiful and so touching to think of the story behind it, makes it all that much more beautiful. I hope you gave it to him... or plan to. *smile* He is blessed to have you as well... I'm sure.

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  3. love this card so calming
    Hugs
    Norine

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  4. Your card whisked me away temporarily to the beach. What a great choice of design and color. My dad made those chairs too when I was a kid and they were used for YEARS - lots of fond memories just like you have.

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  5. Melanie, What a beutiful card, but even more beautiful memory. Thanks for sharing both with us!

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  6. Your card is stunning, but I LOVED your story!!

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  7. What a sweet story and perfect card to go along with it.

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  8. OH, such a romantic story! It makes the card so meaningful. THanks for sharing!

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  9. What a sweet card and an even sweeter story. TFS both!

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  10. So sweet. Love the card!!! Thanks for sharing!

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  11. Melanie, The card is beautiful, like your Marriage! The Lord turly Blessed each of you with each other...and I would bet that you have allowed your Faith to guide your journey together, as in when he was layed off and built the pond anyway...only to find an even better job!
    If more couples allowed Faith to guide their relationships what a beautiful thig that would be!
    I hope your Children will keep those chairs and love them as much as they Love the two of you! The will be or are Family Heirlooms!

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  12. how beautiful!
    ahhhh, true love!

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  13. What a lovely story to go with a lovely card!

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  14. this is so great! love your perfect shadows cast by the sun and most of all - your heartfelt tribute to how great your guy is!

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  15. Such a sweet card...love the vibrant green! TFS

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  16. Melanie! How beautiful. You are a blessed woman, and he is blessed too!

    Your card is lovely...

    Take care and STAY POSITIVE!

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  17. What a beautiful true life story. The garden green makes this a gorgeous card! I was a little surprised when the page opened, not your normal color style I guess. As with all that you create, this is a beauty!

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  18. That was so nice. I was "reorganizing" my stamps as I am prone to do often and I realized I own many of your sets. Hmmm...must be because I like them!

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  19. Fantastic story. Perfect card.

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  20. That is a sincere and true tribute to your hubby. You both seem to love each other a lot. The chairs remind me of my true love also (married going on 40 years). I will copy your card for our anniversary card which is coming up shortly! I know my hubby would love it! TFS

    PatM

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  21. Melanie - this is a beautiful card - I love your color choices and the use of the nail heads. Thank you also for sharing your wonderful story about what these chairs mean to you.
    Kristina G

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  22. What a nice post, reading it brought a smile to my face. And such a gorgeous card!!

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  23. Ahhh, that is such a beautiful post! How sweet of your hubby! This card is beautiful, love the coloring design.

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