The honeymoon is over.....

Ok I just couldn't stand it. I have to tell yall the story of moving into our first home. Now I know this may be boring to all of you. But it is my blog, and I can do what I want to do. So here goes.....the rest of the story.

As we left the wedding we slipped and slid 70 miles to a smallish city called, Wichita Falls. Now WF is not on the top ten list of places to go on a honeymoon. There is nothing great, famous, are romantic about it. But it was as far as we could get, considering the weather, the amount of time that we had, and the amount of money we had to spend.

We did have a nice stay in a really nice hotel. We were very very intrigued by the free flowing water in our tub. And the pool was really great! Neither one of us had seen that much water in a month, no joke.

So after about 2 days we ventured back west. We arrived at my dad's to find that DH's new boss had been on the phone trying to track him down. Evidently the take all the time you need, you only get married once, had been thrown out the window. He wanted him back, and he wanted him back yesterday. This was a small preview as to how the year and a half we lived, and worked there would be...that is another story in its self, and we won't go there...for now.

Since we had acquired a few more gifts, and such as that it was decided that Mama and Daddy would follow us home so we wouldn't have to make two trips hauling all the loot in.

The weather had cleared up. The sun was shining. It was quite a bit warmer, and all together nice day. The road was still a bit muddy, but not to bad.

Off we went. Now there was two ways to get to our new home. One we went through a little town called Crowell, out of town a little way we would cut off and take dirt road all the way, around 15 miles of it. This was the closest way. The other way was farther. We would go up to Guthrie, cut down to Hackberry, cut up another road, but this one was paved, mostly. Since it was a bit longer, we decided to take the Crowell route, the shorter one. DH was sure the road would be alright by now. He was very sure.

We got to the road, it looked pretty good, not bad at all.Off we zoomed. We had gone about 2 miles, and things weren't looking as bright as when we had started. The road seemed to be getting a little slick. No big deal just take it slow. Another mile or 2. Slick was tuning into muddy. Now there are different kinds of mud. This happened to be red clay mud. It is awful stuff. It is sticky. It hangs on to your tires, and makes traction nearly impossible. If you stop you have had it. DH grew up on nearly every kind of dirt road that you can imagine. I grew up on a muddy road as well, but it was a sandy muddy road. Totally different kind of beast. Now to be a good muddy road driver you have to know how to drive on said road.And as I said above, if you happen to find yourself on a red clay muddy road, you don't stop. Even if you are crawling you don't stop. If you stop, it will be very very hard to get going again. DH also thinks the faster you drive the better off you are as well. I personally think it is a man thing, they love the slinging of mud, and the roar of the engine. I cannot prove this theory but that is what I think.

You may be thinking about now, " why didn't they just turn around and go back?" It wasn't that easy. You see this was not a good road. It was more of a glorified pasture road. It was very narrow, with alot of brush on either side. If you have ever been in Texas brush country you will understand this. Not to mention in some places you would have rolled down in a gully, and then that would have been that. Stuck for quite some time. So it was forward we went. Did I mention that there were about 3 bridges we would have to cross as well. They were built out of planks, no sides, weight warnings stuck in the ground beside them, and you had to drive on the two planks that ran across them. If you missed......I shudder to think what would happen. Did I mention that my folks had not been to see our new home? Did I mention that DM really hated long remote, muddy dirt roads?

Dh, with a look of determination on his face gunned it. We were now in for a wild ride. The muddier it got, the faster he drove. We slipped, we slid, we roared through the muddy mess. I took a chance to let go of my white knuckled hand hold to look out the back window at my folks. My DM's mouth was working over time. I am glad I couldn't read lips, I don't think she was saying nice things. DF was hunkered down over the wheel, Oh My GOSH was he giving us the "look"! Quick turn back around, pretend I didn't see. Another mile. Smoke was coming up from the tires. Go around a corner, DH fishtailed, grabbed the wheel, back in control, whew! Oh no the first bridge is coming up. Close eye's, hang on for dear life! Please hit the planks right, please hit the planks right. With a move that would put the Dukes of Hazzard to shame DH flew over the bridge, mud slinging, tires humming, engine roaring. I peeked back....was that a smile on DF's face? Had a look of excitment taken the place of the steely eyed stare? Hark...was that a rebel yell? Whoosh....they cleared the bridge. DM was still talking, and now using hand motions. She was really stirred up.

DH, finding himself on solid ground for the moment, stopped. He wanted to see if my folks were making it OK...:) :) :) Wasn't that nice of him? My mother came out of the passenger side of the pickup, talking. "Just where did he think he was taking me? Didn't I just want to go back home with them. Just where was this place? How much longer? Was the road going to get any better? Jerry why are you driving like a manic? Oh my headdddd." Sniff Sniff

DF assured Dh that they were fine, just fine. Off we roared again An hour later, covered in red mud, tires packed in the sticky stuff we pulled into our driveway. Honey, we're home!

Do you remember the part in my first story about how DH had been living in the house with no heat. He "lived" in the kitchen, using the oven for heat. The water had been frozen for days, I mean day's. To add to the scenario I, thinking he needed a friend, not wanting him to be lonely, I got him a puppy. Yes I saved it just hours before he was to be put down. I did this, I was a hero. A friend to poor pound puppies everywhere. I named him Sam. He was the uglest dog you had ever seen. Part doberman, part german shepard. His tail wasn't docked, and his ears weren't clipped. He was mud ugly. And on top of that I think he was brain damaged. DH wasn't exactly proud of him. He said he really wasn't all that lonesome. But there he was to greet us. He promptly threw himself on DM. At that time in her life DM hated dogs. Big dogs, fat dogs, skinny dogs, but especially ugly rude dogs. And especially muddy, ugly rude dogs. Sputtering and kicking she managed to spend poor Sam slinking off to parts unknown.

I on the other hand was quite excited. Here we were, home at last. I just couldn't wait to get everything in, unpacked, and cook our first meal, in our new home.

In your mind place yourself in my shoes. Here I was a new bride. We had survived the ice storm of 83. We had survived Dh's drive to our new house. DM had gathered herself up, cleaned off the mud that the dumb dog had spread on her. Everything was just peachy.....Then I opened the door to my new home.

All I could do was just look. Nothing else, just stand and gaze at what should have been a well orgainized, clean,cute kitchen. I mean I had been there. I had made new curtains for the windows. I had put up all of our shower gifts. When I had left it it looked cute and homey,and clean. What on earth had happened? DM stepped in right behind me. She took one look at the kitchen, and one look at DH, turned to me and said. " I think you should really just come back home with your Daddy and I."

Here is the deal. When I said that DH had been living in the kitchen because there was no heat in the house. I meant that. When I said that the water had been frozen for days, I meant that. It looked as if a bomb had gone off. Every cabnit door was hanging open. The dishes....oh my they were everywhere. We received a lot of kitchen ware in our shower, and I think it was safe to say that 99% of it was dirty. It was stacked up in the sink. On the sink, and anywhere near the sink it could get. The stove. What exactly was that on the stove. A quick examination and we concluded that it was oatmeal, or it was oatmeal at some point in time, now it was just burned on...stuff. Dirty clothes were on the floor in front of the washing machine. The floor....red muddy foot prints belong to both man and beast were everywhere.. I though he hated that dog. Well it looked like they had bonded quite well at some point in time. A few pieces of tack were spread out in various places. On to the rest of the house. The living room. OK. The bedroom, ok, bed unmade, but fairly clean. Bathroom, not so OK. Dirty ring around the tub, but all in all not so bad. It was the kitchen, that would take the prize on filth. Well what to do but clean it up.
DH and DF were outside deciding what to bring in first. DM and I were inside trying to decide how to go about tackling this job. Dishes first. I turned on the water...oh no. I twisted the nobs again....oh no. This is not good. I went into the bathroom. Turned on the nobs....nothing in there either. This is not good, not good at all.

Calling to DH to come in I informed him that we had not a drop of water. He and DF went to have a look. Coming back in I was told that all the pipes under the house had burst. We didn't have water, and we might not for awhile. DM kept saying under her breath, " I really think you should just come home with us." Poor DH looked so pitiful. This was not the homecoming that either of us had envisioned. As he stood there looking so sad my heart just melted. So what if we had no water. So what if the kitchen was a mess. It wasn't his fault that the weather had taken a turn for the worse. It wasn't his fault that the pipes had burst. And I also decided that it was time for the folks to leave. So shooing then out the door, assuring DM that all would be well. Off they went.

For a few minutes we just sat and looked at each other. Then we started to laugh. I mean why not. It wasn't the end of the world. Just getting married had been an experience in its self. Why should it all fall into place now? Off down the road DH went bucket in hand. Down at the bosses house they had a cistern on their porch. This is a well like thing, that collects rainwater that is guttered off the roof. It is a handy thing. Well he brought me back a couple of buckets, which I heated on the stove. And in a few minutes, I heard banging under the house. DH worked up until dark, and finally we had water.

Now this story does have a moral. And that is...most things in life never work out the way we think they will. We all have preconcieved ideas of what our life will be, how the big events in our lives will turn out etc. We plan, and we fret, and we stress. And when our idea of how things will be fall through, we are devestated. We moan we groan, we feel like the world can't go on. I mean we had all this planned and now look. When this happens we have two choices, we can quit, give up, and sit around feeling sorry for ourselves, or we can go on a take the hand we have been dealt and make the best of it. My idea of the first evening we spent in our new home fell through. Inside of the romantic candlelight supper I had planned, I ended up heating and washing a ton of dirty dishes, and poor DH spent hours on the cold ground underneath a house working on plumbing. Not exactly a great time. But if it hadn't happend I wouldn't have the warm memory of it that I have today. Chances are I wouldn't have remembered the candlelight meal with near as much clarity, as I do cleaning up that awful mess. Did we miss out on a special time together? No we ended up having a great time together.We were working on our first common goal. It may seem a silly thing, and not a big thing in the eyes of the world. But it was a common goal. That is what a marriage should be, having a common goal. I believe the Lord started teaching us how important that is to marriage that very night. And it has been an on going lesson for 24 years.Our goal that night was to get the water on. As we have passed through many different seasons in our married life the goals have been different. Sometimes we have made a mess of them, and sometimes they have worked out. And we aren't finished yet.

I wrote this years ago, I am no poet, keep that in mind as you read my feeble attempt at being one.

The Bride

" I do," she said to the preacher,
As her eyes danced with glee.
What an exciting way to live my life,
Cause a cowboy's wife I'll be.

The road to the cow camp was narrow,
It was muddy.
And it was long.
But glancing at the lean cowboy beside her,
She couldn't wait to see her new home.

He carried her across the threshold,
And she in wedded bliss,
Gazed at her new surrounding,
Oh my, but it was a mess.

Dishes on the counter,
Paw prints on the floor.
Getting this place together,
Was going to be quite a chore.

"Well..you see," her cowboy stammered,
As he pulled his hat down low.
" The water pipes all froze and busted,
It's been so dad-burned cold."

" I am really sorry things are such a mess,
I really didn't intend it.
When the snowing stops, and the ground thaws out,
By golly I think I'll mend it."

" In the meantime, don't you worry none,
There's a cistern by the door.
Just throw the bucket down, give it a yank,
You'll find water there for shore."

The times were mostly good.
The pay was mostly bad.
But through it all, it was the most fun,
The Bride had ever had.

The babies started coming,
First one, then two, then three.
The Cowboy taught them to ride bulls and broncs,
bouncing them on his knee.

The days turned to months,
The months turned to years.
A lot of work, a lot of sweat,
A little blood, and a few tears.

They are Bride and Groom no more,
They are man and wife and friends.
Through the good times and the bad,
They'll stick it out until the end.

God Bless and Happy Trails
Ranch Wife