Wedded bliss?
You bet!
Smooth Sailing?
Hardly!
Crazy days, long stretches, enduring years, sleepless nights, changing personalities, ups and downs in finances and the best roller coaster ride of a lifetime is what the last 26 years have been.
Through it all we have remained the best of friends, parents and lovers. Friends can laugh and say things to each other that lovers cannot. In the heat of the moment emotions and feelings come under attack and our walls of defense become stronger and more fortified when we fear that we may lose that friendship. We communicate with our "friend voice" when issues arise. We try to always keep things friendly.
This past year has been our rockiest to date; but also the most compelling.
WHY?
We have come of age. The age when we just don't give a shit anymore and life is passing us by faster than we care to admit. The age when we sit back and say, "I am too old for this" or "life is too short to keep beating a dead dog with the same stick".
That coming of age. We both arrived there at the same time last year while I was pregnant. We had a sit down discussion that lasted into the night. Our talk was honest, real and raw.
We asked ourselves, and each other, some serious questions:
Is this going to last?
Do you want out?
Is our love strong enough to make it another 25 years?
To answer these questions we had to be painfully honest with each other. It hurt. There were a few tears (I was 5 months pregnant). We laughed. We promised.
At the end of the night we concluded that it will last, that neither of us wanted out and we hoped, with all of our hearts, that we will get another 25 years together.
Our son, Drake, made an interesting observations this past year too. He said to us, "Your relationship is different. You act like friends most of the time. My friends are amazed that you are still married after only dating for two weeks and marrying two months later. They don't get it."
I looked at him and said, " You're right. We have remained the best of friends. I will always love your Dad but with any relationship you have to have a firm foundation. The love that we started with is not the same love that we have today but our friendship has remained the same."
Our foundation is friendship sprinkled with love, passion, responsibility, longevity, endurance, fun, adventure, kids, laughter and lots of "benefits"--insert smiley with a wink.
I love Cory more today than any other time in my life. When they say that a person's love only gets stronger with each passing year, it is true. He is a fantastic father. A hard worker. A powerful influence for good in our family. He is a very spiritual man. His heart is pure with the best of intentions. He is the strength in our family. He carries a lot of weight on his shoulders to be a good provider for our kids.
Simply put--We love him.
Cory makes me a better person. He allows me to be the spice in his life; sweet like sugar and fiery as chili pepper powder. He lets me be me.
Today I am sharing his favorite sandwich. It just happens to be National Grilled Cheese Month and this worked out great because I also got a surprise box from Kerrygold Cheese. (Not a paid post) The stars just aligned perfectly and this all happened at the same time: anniversary, free cheese and another national food day. BONUS!
When I first met Cory we were young and poor. We ate these a lot along with bowls of tomato soup. He believes this is the "meal of the Gods". He is totally a keeper in my mind.
In my mind this would best describe the title of my blog: simply gourmet. A simple sandwich using the best ingredients to create a gourmet meal in a matter of minutes.
SIMPLY.
DELICIOUS.
In my opinion.
ENJOY!
Opened-Faced Grilled Cheese Sandwich
2 tomato slices per slice of bread
1 square slice of cheese per slice of bread
2 pieces of bread
salt/pepper
1. Set your oven to broil.
2. Prepare your ingredients.
3. Use a cookie tray to set your slices of bread on.
4. Place tray under broiler until edges are brown and cheese is melted.
5. Add fresh slices of tomatoes to each slice.
6. Season with salt and pepper.
Written by Sherron Watson