Author: Maddie Dawson
My first book-reading with this club is “The Stuff that Never Happened” by Maddie Dawson. The book is a reflection of marriage and parenthood, choices and mistakes, and personal evolution. The book explores infidelity, love, and the complexity of marriage.
I’ll be honest with you, I had a hard time getting this post started. Marriage is such a personal thing; no two marriages are the same and every couple handles their challenges and triumphs differently. That said, I am one of the lucky ones. I will proudly say — even at the risk of sounding smug — I might have the best husband ever. And I really mean it.
As I read this book, I felt a variety of emotions, randing from anger to compassion. I guess the constant emotion was my best life-lesson: no matter who you marry, you and your spouse are going to evolve as you age, just try to evolve on a parallel track.
My husband and I were married young. He was 26, and I was 23. Looking back, I would never advocate getting married that young (and will probably freak-out if my daughter wants to marry that young). But, I was madly in love and I got married. Sixteen years later, he’s still the love of my life.
As cheesy as that sounds, I have to say that he and I are both very different than when we married. How could we not be? We married so young. And since that time, we experienced a variety life-changing events both together and individually: we moved to the West Coast, built our careers, made new friends, traveled the world, had a child, dealt with deaths in the family and more.
I am a different person than when we met. And so is he. Honestly, that’s how it should be. I’m glad that I have evolved into a happier (and hopefully) wiser person with experiences and memories shaping who I am. But I am even happier that my evolution was parallel to my husband’s. We both have grown and changed, and luckily, we stayed in-synch and together. The opposite could easily be true, and possibly the norm for people who married at our age.
– LTV Mom
Photo Credit: Maddie Dawson Web Site
Just trying to squeeze in some television between mothering, working and crashing.
Aw, that’s so sweet. It is so nice to take the opportunity to say “I have it good” once in a while. Sounds like you are very thankful for where you are at. Your hubby is a lucky guy.
Awww … you guys are such an inspiration. Love this post!