1994

This August, Jarrod and I will celebrate 20 years of marriage! Over the next 3 months I plan to write about each year. Some years were more eventful than others...job changes, big moves, births, deaths. I may not be exact with the order of some events...but I will try to get them as close as possible. I used to keep very detailed calendars and wrote down everything! Once our boys came along I got slack and didn’t keep up with my calendars. This project has helped remind me that I should do a better job of documenting life events.

Of course the best place to start is...1994...the year we got married.

We were young...and crazy...and stubborn! I was 18 and Jarrod was 21. Almost everyone told us we should wait, there was no reason to hurry into marriage, it wouldn’t last. Looking back on it now I can understand their concerns; however, I am a hot tempered, stubborn redhead and the more we were told to wait, the more determined I became! Our journey hasn’t been easy, but by the Grace of God we are still together and much more in love every day.

After finishing my freshman year at UNCW, I started working at Oak Grove Elementary’s summer camp. Jarrod was working as a lifeguard at Homestead Heights Pool. We set our wedding date for Friday, August 5th. We chose a Friday because we didn’t have much time to take off work and we wanted to have all weekend for our short honeymoon. We had talked about going to Disney World for our honeymoon, but quickly realized that wasn’t in the budget. One evening I was listening to the local radio station, G105, and called in to win a “Wayne’s World Prize Pack.” Surprisingly, I was the winner! Part of the prize pack was tickets to King’s Dominion because they were opening a new roller coaster called “The Hurler.” We decided that would be a great place to go on our honeymoon because we love amusement parks!

Our wedding was very small. We decided to get married at Concord Baptist Church in Creedmoor, NC.  I found a dress at a small store in Northgate Mall and it cost around $250. It wasn’t meant to be a wedding dress, but I loved it. There were about 15 people at our wedding, including the preacher. We had no photographer, but someone did video it for us. I remember watching the video and hearing “click click click click” from someone’s disposable camera. Haha! I honestly have no idea where the video is now. For a few years I regretted not having a bigger, more formal wedding; however, after attending and being a part of several BIG weddings I am glad we kept it small. I do not like to be the center of attention at all. I didn’t even walk down the aisle at our wedding. I sat in the front row. When Jarrod and his best man came out from the back, my maid of honor and I stood up and joined them. Cheryl Clement (now Bivins) was my maid of honor and Dennis “Jackie” Farmer was Jarrod’s best man.

After our wedding and honeymoon, we loaded up our things and headed to Wilmington so I could start my sophomore year. Jarrod got a job working at Brendle’s and at some point he did landscaping as well (I’m not sure what year he started that.) I was involved with my sorority and also worked with a family after school each day. The boy I watched, Xander, was in elementary school and he was diabetic. I learned a lot about his diet and medical needs. I picked him up from school each day, helped him with his homework, and stayed until his mother got home. I loved my time with Xander and enjoyed hanging out in their gorgeous historic home in downtown Wilmington.

Jarrod and I lived in College Green Apartments. We had a tiny 1 bedroom apartment! It was only 700 sq. feet, but we were excited about our little apartment and all of our new stuff from our wedding….new towels, dishes, cookware!  Everything was new and exciting. Some people say the first year is the hardest, but for us it was fun and wonderful...but darker times were coming.