By the time I moved up here to Des Moines, Michael had already been here a month for school. I missed him and our sweet Gizmo so much, and even though everyone told me to come into marriage without expectations of Michael as my husband, it was hard not to; I just couldn't wait to live with Michael by ourselves for the first time! I thought we would have the perfect leave-it-to-beaver household...ha!
The first couple of weeks were by far the most difficult, as we established our new roles in the household and eliminated the pre-conceived expectations we had for eachother. I knew Michael would be studying alot, but I guess I didn't realize how much. Here I was, in this new apartment in a state I'd never even been to, with a new job, no friends or family, and I literally only got to see Michael about 30 mins a day, which was usually for dinner. He didn't even come to bed until hours after I'd fallen to sleep. "Is this how it's going to be for the next 4 years?!" I wondered. I felt lost and alone and so homesick. I didn't really feel like I had a purpose here. I gave up OT school and the life I was comfortable in, to support Michael while he's in school, and I didn't even get to see him! I was a little resentful of his super limited schedule and he was frustrated that I wasn't happy because there really wasn't much he could do about it.
It took a little bit of patience and understanding on both our parts, but after we learned how to communicate well, I learned about Michael's needs in a wife and he learned how to comfort and support me. Since then, life has only improved for us. We've grown so much stronger as a couple, I began to really enjoy my job, the boxes were s-l-o-w-l-y getting unpacked, and the beautiful new furniture that my parents bought us for a wedding present even arrived, making us feel more at home. Though we still have basically no time together, and I can count the number of things we've been able to do together on one hand, it does make us value the moments we do have together even more.
One Saturday, Michael had a few hours he could spend away from his studies and we decided to explore Iowa together by going to a local apple orchard. It was a really fun experience, getting to pick the apples right off the tree and eat them. Definitely wasn't something we are able to do in TX! Here are a few pics from our evening...
The next chance we had to spend time together was for my birthday. Michael had told me that he had a surprise for me, but I wasn't sure if the surprise was the date or a gift, so I didn't have a clue about what it could be. When I got home from work, I stepped out of my car and noticed Michael sitting in his car, parked next to me. I saw some of my sweats in the backseat, and instead of the obvious, I thought to myself "has it really been so long since the last time I did laundry that he's taking it to a laundromat?!" Then I noticed Gizmo jumping around in the front seat and Michael signaled me to get into the car. I was thrilled when we arrived at a camping ground, after about a 30 min. drive! Michael had bought us a new tent and everything we would need for camping. He even brought dinner, which consisted of hotsogs, brautwurst, chips, pickles, and s'mores for dessert. He even brought his laptop to watch a DVD, and beef jerky and jiffypop to cook over the fire for a snack. Although we were exhausted and ended up falling asleep around 11pm, and we had to get up at 7am so Michael could resume his studying, we still had such a perfect evening together while it lasted. It was the perfect birthday surprise!
The weekend after my birthday, my dad flew me back to the great state of Texas for my cousin, Lindsay's, wedding. Although Michael wasn't able to come because of his heavy school load, I still had a blast! Not only did Lindsay and Sam have a beautiful wedding, but I also got to go fishing with mom and dad at the beach, celebrate my belated birthday with all of my family, and spent precious time with my cousins. The older I get, the more I treasure time with my family and the more I realize what a uniquely close family I have, being so large. I feel so incredibly lucky to be blessed with such a strong support system that I can always turn to. Here are some pics from the time I spent there...
Though I SO loved my time in TX, it was nice to come home to my sweet hubby. He even tidied up the apartment for my return lol :) Last weekend, Michael and I finally got to go to the Aggie football game against Iowa State. I've been looking forward to it since Michael gave me the tickets as a present, on our wedding day. Lately, though, he's been so busy with studying that we didn't think we were going to have time to go. He actually ended up pulling some all-nighters to make time for the game. We had such a great time at the game and the Aggies killed the Cyclones. Whoop!
Well, that basically sums up our life in Iowa, so far. I know it's pretty uneventful, but hey, there's not a whole lot of fun things to do by myself. I've been trying new recipes from Pinterest, which have been great. I'll be sure to post them when I make a new one. I've also had alot of requests for pics of the apartment. It's pretty slow-going because everything I've done to it is DIY, to save money. I'll post pics as I make progress!
Nice write up and a good series of pictures.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that car a beetle?
Those pictures (especially the wedding ones) can make a good short video :-)