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Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

Not much has Changed. (FMF)

August 22, 2014 by HappyGoStuckey 14 Comments

Seven years. That’s how long it’s been since that warm late August day. People tell me it was unbearably hot but I really can’t say that I noticed. All I remember is… everything else.

The smile on my face as the alarm went off that morning. The early morning Starbucks run and sitting in the salon chair with a stomach full of spastic butterflies. The morning hours spent with best girl friends, much makeup and even more laughter.

The hours that both flew and creeped by until 5:00PM.

IMG_0884Standing in an empty hallway with only my sweet Dad to steady me as we waited for our turn.

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The swell of the music. The smell of the flowers. The moment of quiet. The deep breath and the opening doors and the first step.

And then it all melts into seeing your face and a beaming smile. I knew. Never had I been more sure of the next step to take.

Vows said with shaky voices and certain hearts.                                                                                                                                                                And everything we had known changed in a swaying lilt of “Will you?” and “Yes.”

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Then we danced like the crazy kids we were and dined on stuffed mushrooms and root beer floats.

Often it feels like yesterday that we headed out together, a family, into the balmy night.

But a few things have changed in seven years and sometimes it feels like a million lifetimes ago.

Our flower girls and ring bearers are now amazing teenagers with driver’s licenses.

Our newlywed apartment is a cherished memory and the halls we now walk are beautifully littered with the effects of 2 twirling girls.

Seven Years. 84 Months.  2,555 Days. Some of them have been harder than others and every now and then I forget what it was like to be the new bride.

But looking at that girl in all that white in our wedding album, and the way she looked at him–

And looking at me looking at you as you come in the door and are met with a chorus of girls and hugs– I see her.

She’s still here. A few more laugh lines and just as many butterflies. And she still feels the exact same way and the answer is still “YES.”

You and Me. Forever. Nothing has really changed. 

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Celebrating 7 years of Marriage to my One and Only and Happy to Link up with my Five Minute Friday Friends!!! 

 

** Photos captured by the amazing Casey Chappell**

My Top 10 from Declare
Walls and Community.

Comments

  1. sonyamacdesigns says

    August 22, 2014 at 6:07 pm

    Congratulations! Super excited to see newly wed love seven years later.

    Reply
  2. Jacqueline Heider says

    August 22, 2014 at 6:55 pm

    Beautifully written and so incredibly sweet! Happy Anniversary you two!!

    Reply
  3. pourcettetemps says

    August 22, 2014 at 7:49 pm

    I love this reflection on change. So beautiful to change alongside someone isn’t it

    Reply
  4. Ma says

    August 22, 2014 at 10:39 pm

    I LOVE that you got to share!

    Reply
  5. jenn says

    August 23, 2014 at 8:09 am

    Happy 7th anniversary you two!! We remember that day well!! Such a beautiful, God-honoring time!

    Reply
  6. amypboyd says

    August 23, 2014 at 9:15 pm

    Congrats on 7 years and wish you many many more !!!

    Reply
  7. Liz says

    August 25, 2014 at 8:22 pm

    Congrats on being the featured FMF entry!! Great post, and beautiful pictures!

    Reply
  8. Liz says

    August 25, 2014 at 8:23 pm

    Congrats on being the featured FMF entry! Great post, and beautiful pictures!

    Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      August 26, 2014 at 4:01 pm

      Hi Liz!!! Hope all is well with you and the writing is coming along! <3

      Reply
  9. Juliet says

    August 26, 2014 at 1:50 pm

    Reading this has left me with such a happy smile. May the years to come be just as full of happiness, may the laugh lines deepen and may you draw ever closer to each other as you dance through the years.

    Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      August 26, 2014 at 4:00 pm

      Thank you for those kind words, Juliet and thank you so for stopping by today!

      Reply
  10. helldoesntownme says

    August 29, 2014 at 6:10 pm

    What a lovely story! What a huge smile it brings to my face! Congratulations on seven happy years. May you have many, many more.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. five minute friday :: reach | heading home says:
    August 28, 2014 at 10:00 pm

    […] we start writing, did you catch the Featured Five Minute Friday in the sidebar this week?  I just adored the story shared by Happy Go Stuckey on last week’s […]

    Reply
  2. What I learned in August. | Happy Go Stuckey says:
    September 3, 2014 at 3:48 pm

    […] 4. In August, we celebrated our 7th Wedding Anniversary. In seven years, we’ve shared three addresses. […]

    Reply

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Hey There!

I'm Cynthia and I'm so glad you're here. I am an introvert with an extrovert's love of gathering people together. I love good books and capturing moments. Whether you visit me here or on my own front porch, I'll be the one holding the Iced Coffee for us both.

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Some of the rhythms we took up in ‘20 we will co Some of the rhythms we took up in ‘20 we will continue to sigh into in ‘21.
Baking sourdough, watching it bubble and rise and fill our BlueHouse with the scent of a good, long, posture of patience— I absolutely need a second serving of this.
While we wait, and whatever it is that we wait for— may the space between be made sweeter by the knowledge that we never wait alone.
You can’t tell by their joy, but the day I snapp You can’t tell by their joy, but the day I snapped this photo was somewhat of a regular day.

What looks like a winter beach vacation was actually the tail-end of a masked lunch stop in the middle of a pandemic road trip.

This sparkling moment of sun-splashed fun was sandwiched between brutal conversations about regular life, especially the hard parts.

And this is how it is. 
These bits of life that we never see coming, they are enveloped between all that makes us tired, weary, sighing pilgrims in a world that was never really meant to be hospitable in the first place.

This photo reminds me to look again at our year, our season, our circumstances.

To look a second and third time.
To keep looking as long as it takes to see that the joy of our right now isn’t gone, it just might be hiding in the shadow of all that’s hard.

Brokenness is never vague. And we don’t have to search very long to see it both within ourselves and around us.
Sometimes the weight of that fact is crushing.
And then, sometimes it reminds us even more clearly of the light shining in darkness.

Joy is an act of defiance against despair and I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling rather defiant at the moment.✨✨✨✨

@hopewriters #hopewriterlife 
#feastingandforaging #hopelenses #getaftergrateful
Endurance can feel like standing still. Especially Endurance can feel like standing still. Especially if what we’re called to be about is the same as yesterday and last month. 
It’s difficult to meet each day with the same fervor and joy for what we are called to do, especially when at present, the progress seems small and immeasurable. 
But even then, perhaps especially so — our faithfulness matters.

When we cannot yet see the other side, the light at the end of this particularly long tunnel, we begin again.

Not because we will always wake with fresh energies and bright, sparkling hope for what comes next, friend. But because the God of Endurance (Romans 15:5) dwells within us.

“It is the grace of endurance granted to you by the God of endurance that provides you with everything you need to continue to be what he calls you to be and do what he calls you to do between this moment and the moment when you cross over to the other side. When difficulty exposes the weakness of your resolve and the limits of your strength, you do not have to panic, because He will endure even in this moments when you don’t feel able to do so yourself.” — Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies

#hopewriterlife
Stuckey, party of two. Always ready to run out for Stuckey, party of two. Always ready to run out for paper towels... especially if the store is in convenient proximity to a quick date for croissants and dirty chai for two. Love my forever coffee companion even more at the start of this new year. Wherever he’s going, I’m riding shotgun.
We have learned... The inestimable value of a goo We have learned...

The inestimable value of a good camp chair, for they have been used for everything from soccer benches and coffee dates to theatre seats and church pews.

What our neighborhood streets can offer in the way of an outing—from the colors of spring to the sparkle of Christmas.

To hold plans with the loosest hands possible.

To rejoice in things found. Time. Margin. ...and enough toilet paper to share with a neighbor.

To give grace and accept it for ourselves.

The hilarious joy of a group text complete with “have you seen this meme yet?” 

To pivot. And then pivot again.

To find more joy in candlelight closer to home, instead of the bright lights of traveled cities.

To perfect our pizza dough recipe and truly learn to prefer it over dinner out.

To work with yeast and flour again and again— until the message of waiting for something really good dusted our apron fronts and kitchen floors.

And in our house, we learned how to be unexpectedly unemployed. We learned how to honor that new found space with needed grief and desired hope. How to be grateful for true friends who prayed with us, held questions with us, and hoped with us. We were reminded of our true identity and that it will never rest in a job. 

In a year in which we’ve all lost quite a lot, you and I have been given so much as well. Some of what we’ve lost we have learned to be without. Some, we won’t go looking for again.

In 525,600 minutes and in all the things, found and lost and found again— there is far and away more to be grateful for.

And we choose joy.

✨Happy New Year, dear friends!✨
Not rushing too quickly into a new year over here. Not rushing too quickly into a new year over here. Though the one in our rear view window is one we wouldn’t choose to repeat, still it was one full of God’s nearness.

One day I’ll write it all down.
But for now I’ll just say,
we were not alone. 🕯
“Once in our world, a Stable had something in it “Once in our world, a Stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world.”
C.S.Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia

Joy to the World, friends.
Behold. The most apropos Christmas Eve 2020 desser Behold. The most apropos Christmas Eve 2020 dessert ever. Made from a wonky gingerbread cake that did not cooperate.
We shall not go quietly into 2021.
We will fight back with beauty and joy and candles... and fresh whipped cream made by an eleven year old with sparkly green eyes. 🎄❤️✨
Merry Christmas from the Fam! { 👉🏻 swipe for Merry Christmas from the Fam! { 👉🏻 swipe for Stuckeys in their natural habitat.) 🎄🕯❤️✨
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