husband

Home

Posted on by Lauren

Happy New Year, my darling. 

You know I’ve always been your number one fan. 

It’s never changed. 

It never will. 

I picked well. 

I also forced you to read a Dr. Phil book and face your past before committing to a future with me. 

We are 10 years apart in age but I’d been through enough to know you had to know yourself before loving someone else. 

And here we are, 16+ years and four kids later. 

Still learning, still growing but forever and always, loving. 

We are exhausted and committed to one another and to our family. 

And honestly, 

I burst into tears during our vows because I knew

I had found home. 

There’s nothing better than that. 

You, my home. 

Dee Akright Photography

Emmett Turns 50

Posted on by Lauren

Let me tell you about this man:

My husband, Emmett, who turns 50 years amazing today. 

If you’re lucky enough to know Emmett, you know ease and joy

Because that is what he embodies.

Life is fairly simple, when you allow it to be so.  

The only other man I knew to be just like him was his father. 

Happiness and joy begets the same. 

Spending time with his family is like a warm hug. 

And so is spending time with my husband. 

My love, our joy. 

Happy Birthday, my darling. 

We are all lucky to have you.  

Value

Posted on by Lauren

“What do you love about me?” I asked him, directly. 

And I don’t mean my mothering or wifely duties. 

Or because I love you, for that matter.

Do you see me?

Do you value me?

Anybody can sweep this under the rug.

But not me. 

And guess what?

That’s what makes me, me. 

I’ve been through enough that 

I’m not afraid.

To ask the hard questions. 

To have the difficult conversations.

Instead of filling the awkward silence,

I allow it to marinate. 

And then I remind you of who I am and how I became that person.  

How lucky we are to have one another, individually speaking.

It’s easy to get lost in a family dynamic.

But we are worth the work.

20 years go by and couples can’t remember who they married.

Well, I’ll be damned.

I’m going to tell you what I love about you. 

And I’m going to insist that you remember not only why you married me

But also my value. 

Because I am.

Valuable. Fearless.  Courageous. 

All the things that make me that great wife and mother. 

And don’t you ever forget it. 

40

Posted on by Lauren

I started and stopped. 

Some things are just too complicated to try and explain. 

But he looked at me and said, “Talk to me.” 

So, I told him. 

I explained how I had spent a lifetime trying to make sense of who I am today, based on my upbringing. 

I grew up dead-center-middle of a fractured family and as a result, I had built a life of trying to prove myself.  

I did this by being whatever the other person needed me to be. 

In other words, I had never found myself because I was too busy trying to be what anyone else needed. 

And this carried on through adulthood. Through friendships.  Through motherhood.  Through marriage. 

Oh, how easy it is to get lost in being whatever your children need.  Why else would there be an “empty nest syndrome”? 

But it was the marriage that had me, at the current moment. 

“What do you love about me?” I point-blank asked him. “Aside from the fact that we have similar interests and I don’t complain about you fishing . . . “

I asked him not to respond right away because I wanted a genuine answer. 

Do you love me because I am who you need me to be?

Or do you love me because of who I am?

In other words, do you see me?

Even when I can’t?

I’m soon celebrating the Eve of 40- an age I cannot *wait* to reach because finally, you just don’t give a damn anymore.  

And I. am. so. ready. 

To stop trying and to start just being. 

Camille Vaughan Photography