The honeymoon….

We got engaged in June of 2003, and got married on October 4, 2003. That’s right…we had three and a half months to plan our wedding. As you now know, our wedding day flew by, and we don’t remember much from that day. And in all honesty, we hadn’t known each other that long, and the small-sized baggage we carried into our marriage, seemed to be getting bigger and bigger as each day passed. The day after our wedding, we woke early to board a plane for our honeymoon in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

Little did I know at the time, but I was dealing with some major control issues. I wanted everything done my way, because I fully believed my way was the right way (this is Nina writing, by the way, in case you were wondering…but I’m guessing you already knew that). I didn’t even give Wes the chance to man up and make some decisions, because I didn’t trust him. Even at the resort we were staying at, I made all the plans, and since I’m fluent in Spanish, I figured I should do all the talking, as well. He didn’t show it at the time, but deep under his sweet and giving exterior, my issues with control and my ability to somehow emasculate him with a single word, were slowly eating away at Wes, even within the first days of our marriage.

I remember about 3 days into our honeymoon, I broke down and cried a river. Some nonsense about how our wedding day was terrible, and it didn’t turn out right, and nobody liked it…you know…the usual. I remember Wes sitting beside me on the bed, looking clueless as to why in the world I was having a breakdown on our honeymoon. But never-the-less, he sat there and comforted me, and just loved on me.

We didn’t realize it at the time, but we were headed into some majorly rocky waters. I was especially clueless. In my mind, everything was fine…well as long as it was done my way.

If I could go back to that honeymoon, I would have cherished every moment. I would have celebrated the fact that I was there with an amazing man with so many incredible qualities. I would have let Wes speak more. I would be less selfish (I was extremely selfish). Of course, as well all know the old cliche saying goes, hind sight is 20/20. I wish I would have had perfect vision back then, but that’s not real life. We all have to walk the rocky road, and sometimes we learn our lessons quicker than others. Sometimes it takes us a painfully long time to get on the right track. This was Wes and I.

Thankfully, if nothing else, I had perseverance, stubbornness, and a good dose of faithfulness. If nothing else, I was going to fight for this marriage. But like I said, at the time, we were in a land of cluelessness…new marital bliss. We had no idea what lay ahead of us. I’m so thankful to God for walking with us the entire time. There’s no way we would have made it here had it not been for His faithfulness. But let’s not get ahead of the story.

For now, enjoy the above photo, which was taken on our honeymoon. I feel like we haven’t changed much. Am I crazy? But dude…I am rocking that Diablos bandanda from my ol’ second home of Toluca, Mexico. And how ’bout Wes with that backwards hat and killer shades?! And obviously the lizard is kind of awesome, but that’s a given. We look pretty happy, don’t we?

*need to catch up with the story?  Start here.