PERSPECTIVE ...

The title of this post will tell you, that this isn't one of my normal crafty/foodie posts. Every couple of years, I feel compelled to write something other than a crafty post. It's usually on a topic that sits heavy on my heart. I have drawn a lot of encouragement from the experiences and situations other bloggers have found themselves in, and have written about over the years .... Perhaps this post is one of those.

Yesterday Hubby and I celebrated our 20th Wedding Anniversary ... It was an emotional day for me. I am a lucky girl. On that day 20 years ago, under a beautiful African sky, surrounded by Family and friends, I married my best friend and Prince Charming, and to this day, he remains those. Our dream back then, for each 10 year mark Anniversary, was to return to the tropical island where we spent our honeymoon. At our 10 year mark, we did exactly as we'd dreamed ..... we left our 4 and 6 year old babies with my parents, and jetted off for a week of tropical island bliss - it was magical.

Fast forward 10 years to yesterday, and the picture couldn't be more different. The past 10 years have been hard !!! We moved our family to the USA in late 2004, full of hope and expectation, and one by one those expectations have been crushed. We've faced and continue to face, many difficult issues ... unemployment, mental illness, loneliness, isolation .... and so the list goes on.

This is where PERSPECTIVE comes in. I found myself drowning yesterday. We so badly wanted our 20 year milestone to be special. There was going to be no fancy gifts wrapped in shiny paper, no romantic dinner out at a lovely restaurant, and definately no tropical island getaway. But then I thought, that if I changed my perspective on what would make it special,  from what we'd always dreamed it would be, to what we could make it, it would still be special. So, that's exactly what we did ......

Hubby is a chocoholic .... but not a Hershey's kinda chocoholic !!! We grew up on Cadburys (so yummy). So I put together a little chocolate basket for him ...

I set the table for two, with candles and flowers ...

I fed the kids early, and I then made a special dinner (starter, main course, and dessert), just for the two of us.
It was awesome ..... It was special ...... It was romantic

It was a lesson learned ..... The situation we find ourselves in currently, is devastating (there's no sugar coating that), but at the same time we have much to be grateful for .... 20 happy years of marriage behind us and God willing many more years ahead of us ... 2 wonderful children ... loving, supportive families (although they're all REALLY far away).

Sometimes, it really is just a matter of changing your perspective.