Who would have thought? Storms can’t slow us down.

Four years ago today I said, “I do” to the most amazing man on the planet. He sharpens me like no one else can. He intrigues me like no one else can. He spoils me like no one else would.

And he gave me this:

And he loves these as though they were his own flesh and blood:

At times the waters are turbulent but we always come out clean and unscathed. Well, except for our pride. We both bend and give.

And when we build up walls around us. The other is there to gently show us the way out. Once again we see that together is always better than being isolated.

I would follow him anywhere… except a buffet restaurant. Honey, please stop asking me to go to buffet restaurants. ewe, gross!

I love holding on to these memories with him by my side. I wouldn’t want to live life with anyone else.

And even if we have to settle for a hotel water park instead of the magnificent Big Kahuna’s Water Park. And if we have to settle for the double red flag, wave crashin’, storm tattered beaches of Florida instead of the amazing beaches in Riviera Maya, Mexico, I have to say I’m okay with that as long as we are all together. It was still fun and we grew closer as a family.

Oh and by the way, our children are crazy.

All of these photos were taken during a brief pause in Tropical Storm Lee’s destruction. We were in Florida. Instead of posting photos of the destruction, high waves, and strong winds I decided to post about the good that occurred and the memories we made.

We went to Florida thinking we were escaping the storm since it was headed here to Louisiana. We were also glad to be away from all of the fires and smoke that have been invading us and our neighboring state, Texas.

We didn’t escape the storm.

For the most part, we were holed up in a small hotel room watching the wind and rain wreak havoc all around us. We did not get to go to Big Kahuna’s Water Park like we do on every trip to Florida. We couldn’t collect shells. We couldn’t go to the amusement park. We spent hours on the phone texting and talking to our loved ones here making sure all was well.

The storm was brutal. It showed us no mercy so we took it.

What we did was enjoy the peace in the midst of the storm. We laughed together. We cried together. We played games. We discovered that Carsten is pretty good at billiards (like he beat all of us including me, a used-to-be player in a professional league). We discovered that Max wants to play the guitar so we spent hours online finding just the right one to purchase for him.  Andrew, he is a pretty good interpreter of weather. He was up watching the winds and scanning weather sites to predict where the next tornado would be based on “hooks” in the radar. Yes, there was that many tornadoes.

We finally figured out what word Matthias has been saying for the past two weeks: soooooosa” means “let’s go” as he grabs his shoes. At home he doesn’t have access to his shoes but at the hotel they were all in a pile by the door. My boy loves to go.

I also realized just how much I love my man. I hated when he left to go drive in that weather to get us food or whatever else we needed. I was so worried. But he took charge of the situation and that made me happy.

Marriage is a lot like that trip. Storms come and go but we have to hold on to the peace and joy filled times. These are eternal memories. I’m so thankful that God brought Ryan into mine and the boys’ lives. He is my love.

Happy anniversary, Ryan. I look forward to many, many more!

Related articles

• Tropical Storm Lee Tuesday Sept. 6 update (bayouwoman.wordpress.com)
• Tropical Storm Lee: Spinoff Tornadoes Reported (abcnews.go.com)