8 Years Married

Nathan and I have just celebrated 8 years of marriage together and even though he is saying that this milestone makes him feel old, at the same time 8 years has gone by incredibly quickly and has been a great adventure. It was great to once again have a child free night away and some time to reflect on our past and future together.

I adored Nathan long before we became a couple, and continue to feel incredibly grateful for him in my life and by my side. I feel so happy that that affection was (eventually) returned, and his love, loyalty and friendship are a wonderful thing and something I treasure greatly. I love that we fell in love so long ago and now are here  – making each other happy, and strengthening and loving each other through daily life, whilst having fun in the process!

I love that we have our own little happy family and inside jokes…our flow and lots of adventures. I love that he loves me more than I could imagine, and makes me feel so special and of great worth! I love that we are still so happily married and in love! I know that marriage and family life aren’t plain sailing, and they obviously have their ups and downs, but I can honestly say that we are happily married, and deeply in love! That may sound a little cheesy but its true, and just as we hoped (and yet is so very different and more special than we imagined) when we made that commitment 8 years ago.

8 Years Married – How we celebrated

We always have at least one night kid free night away for our wedding anniversary, and combine that with an activity around the traditional theme of anniversaries.

Our night away this year led us only a short distance up the Yorkshire coast to Scarborough! We realised that this was the first time in 8 years of marriage that we have had a child free break at the seaside! Up until now it’s always been city breaks to see historic places (except the countryside adventure of last year), and filled with a lot of culture and business of sightseeing. This break was far more laid back and included a George Michael Tribute!

The Hotel was found on Groupon and for the first time was a deal I kinda regretted! It was a lovely location and Scarborough was rather nice, but the hotel felt tired and a little bit of a let down! I ended up complaining about our room shortly after arrival, and thankfully was able to be swapped to something nicer and more comfortable. The food was mediocre and everything just needed a revamp! But on the plus side the company was excellent and sea views splendid so it was all great too. We loved the fun of a tribute artist and relaxing together, and all in all it was such a laugh.

It was a place we wouldn’t naturally choose, but where curiosity got the better of us. There are probably far nicer places on the coast to stay in but to look back on this little baraginous anniversary trip, it has filled us with funny stories and lots of tat to laugh about together!

8 years of marriage is traditionally celebrated with a gift of pottery or Bronze! So in keeping with our tradition of finding an activity around this we ended up dabbling in a bit of pottery painting at a small place in Scarborough on Saturday morning! We had discussed everything from spray tans (“bronze”) to jetting off to a hot island to catch some rays (no money for that one) … and even clay pigeon shooting!

When we talked about a pottery activity I envisioned a bit of a ghost scene, but Nathan did not, and instead we sat deep in concentration painting things already made. It was for the best as neither of us are that creative, but like all things we do for our anniversary, its an opportunity to break out of our norm! He did a bowl with an “8” and me a tacky flamingo on a jug. We stamped them with the year underneath.

We have talked a lot recently about how life until “us” is almost irrelevant these days because it has little significance to what is now. They are lessons learnt, experiences had and memories made of course, but together in 8 years we have grown together, over come together and we have loved and lost together. We made a family from 2 to 6 and have had some wonderful trips and some awful emotional days at home! But each day from regular life to the great and extra ordinary moments have built us into people different from who we were 8 years ago, and instead have made us into people we perhaps (I’m almost certain) we couldn’t be without the other.