The Year that Nothing Happened

Our courtship, engagement, and first married year were quite eventful.  As we talked about our memories from that time, we actually had to decide what details to leave out of our "story."  Our second year was a little different.  In planning to tell the story of our second year, I had trouble coming up with anything to share.  After several days of trying to remember something interesting from that time, I finally decided to admit to Johnie I was drawing a blank for an entire year of our lives.

We talked about it a few months ago.  “I think I’m just going to say it was the year that nothing happened,” I said.  “Stuff happened.”  Johnie contended.  “Well, like what?”  I asked.  “Our new jobs.”  First year.  “I started singing with Seven.”  Third year.  It went on for several minutes.

“So nothing happened our second year?” Johnie seemed a little worried.  “Well, it’s not like nothing happened.  I mean, it was a good year for us.  I just don’t think we have very many stories from that year.”  After a bit of further discussion, he seemed okay with our lackluster year.

In way of confession, I feel I must admit that our second year may very well go down in history as one of my favorite years of marriage.  The first year was hard in many ways.  We were learning a lot about one another and how to function as a team.  I was terribly homesick and adjusting to life in a completely different place.  I have plenty of happy memories from that time, but just as many that involve tears, depression, and loneliness.  And we’ll get to the other years later.  While I don’t have any second-year stories to set off fits of laughter, I also don’t have any struggles or hardships to share. 

Just typing that makes me feel so blessed.  It is the reason why I cherish our second year.  For that and one other reason: I love routine.  Our second year was routine.  We settled into work schedules.  After Johnie working nearly every Saturday of our first year, we now had our weekends free.  I felt like we were finally normal.  Our first year we guarded our date night as though it was sacred.  Several months into our second year, Johnie asked me one evening why we didn’t do date night anymore.  It was because we had every evening together and usually more than one date a week naturally resulted. 

We received extra income from my job, but no added bills.  It was the most financially stable either of us had ever been.  We were oblivious to the looming recession and didn’t even know to worry that we might ever lose that stability.

We planned long vacations to Kentucky.  And they actually felt like vacations.  Trips home that first year felt like challenges to spend as much time as possible with as many people as possible with no regard for sleep or personal preferences before having to return to Kansas.  We purposely made our second year trips more leisurely.  Dividing the drive into two days, and scheduling side trips during our stay.

My relationships with Kansas friends and family continued to grow and deepen, and I didn't feel as isolated or lonely as I had the first year.  It was the least stressful my life had been since I was a little girl, and my schedule was more laid back than it had been in years.  If I had to describe the year in one word it would be relaxed. 

We had decided when celebrating our first anniversary in Kansas that we would like to celebrate each year in a different state.  Our second year celebration was in Tennessee.  And then we started our third - when things started getting a little more interesting again.