the 2 of us

Header Challenge: the 2 of us

February 20, 2013

Imac brings us the challenge for today. I suppose there could be different possibilities for this theme (best buds, 2 fish in a bowl, peas in a pod,, left & right mittens etc.), but the first thing that I think of when we say "the two of us," is my wife and me... so, that's what I went with. Check out my  pals for their interpretations on this theme: Fishing  Guy, Katney, Imac and Lew.

I took all but the "blue" pic. For that one, I snapped a pic of my friends, and asked that they swtich and take a photo of the 2 of us.  The camera settings were already figured out (slow shutter, low flash, etc.), so all they had to do was point and shoot. Did you notice that these were not taken at the same time? (different beards) The blue pic was taken in December of 2011 in front of a shop window in Downtown Chicago. Some of the small pics were taken only a few weeks ago, while my wife and I got away for our 25th wedding anniversary. The header was a self portrait from November of 2010.

 

At the company picnic in August, an elderly couple set up lawn chairs close to us. They just sat with each other, holding hands. I imagine they could teach us a lot about love and marriage.

This last shot was taken in my home, and I like how it represents my wife and me. Colors and proportions aside, the affection and intimacy characterize us well.

happy new year

Did I miss it? Yup. Chinese new year was on January 23. Silly me; I was thinking about other things. They call this is the year of the dragon. That sounds like a good excuse to post a dragon pic that I snapped downtown last month at an outdoor Christmas market. I'm wondering... what kind of mind decides that it is appropriate to carve wooden dragons for Christmas? Hmmm...

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Mrs. Craver and I did not take pictures of ourselves on our anniversary date this year, but here is one from our honeymoon in the Poconos. I wish I had the photographer's info. He was a guy wandering around with a camera and taking all kinds of pics. If you liked a print, you could buy it from him. We bought about a dozen of his prints.

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That Pennsylvania mountain snow was glorious! My wife and I love the snow. A good snow outside makes the fireplace warmer, and even ramps up the experience of a good mug of hot cocoa.

we felt robbed

The snow started coming down pretty good Friday afternoon, and it made the evening commute so slow, that it was the top story on the news. My employers graciously let us out early (with pay).

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There was lots of shoveling on Friday and Saturday. Sunday was time to recover, but as I drove around with my wife, I found a few places that I wanted to photograph. I did more than just make mental notes, I talked to Mrs. Craver about it, and got some good confirmation that these sites were worthy of another visit. I had the day off of work on Monday. So the plan was that sometime before lunch on Monday, I would drive back to two or three of these locations with a tripod, and take my sweet time to capture a few snowy landscapes.

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But that night, Jack Frost skipped town and the temps rose and it rained. And rained. And rained. These were the big, fat, heavy raindrops that normally make beautiful music on the rooftops. Not this time. We both lay there with eyes wide open, expressing concern over how much our beautiful snowscapes might change into something that was not quite the winter wonderland that we were hoping for.

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When I looked outside the next morning, I saw that only the heaped snow remained. All of the flat blankets of snow had melted down to the grass. I felt like I had been robbed, my hopes deflated. (sigh) I should have been keeping track of the weather reports.

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But... The sadness lasted all of five minutes, because this was my 24th wedding anniversary. Monday for me, was primarily about enjoying my Mrs. Craver and celebrating our life together. And that aspect of the day could not be taken away from us. :-)

twenty-three

Those eyes. They're like hot cocoa on a cold winter's day. Mmmm...

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On Sunday, January 23, Mrs. Craver and I will have been married 23 years. I'll tell you what--if I lost everything in the world, but still had her, I would still consider myself a rich man. You know what else? I think I walk closer with the Lord because of her, and I walk closer with her because of the Lord.

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Yeah... she's a keeper.

21st anniversary

My beloved bride and I were married 21 years ago today. It was a fairly simple wedding. We had a brief, low budget reception in our church's gymnasium, and quickly flew off to Pennsylvania for our honeymoon in the Pocono mountains. It snowed so hard that day, the airports were shutting all flights down behind us, and we just barely made it out.

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You guys only get the best side here at the blog, but that woman has stood by me through all the depths of my depravity and imperfections. Occasionally, she forces herself to laugh at my jokes... even though she's heard the same ones over, and over, and over again.

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twenty somethings

Twenty years is not a long time to be married. It's like they say: "Time flies when you're having fun." Mrs. Craver and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary on Wednesday.

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The conversations with the men goes something like this: "Craver, I hope you remembered." I did. "Good."

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But the ladies ask about all the details. "Did you sprinkle flower petals all over the floor? Did you rent a yacht? Did you make a sappy poem and then cry as you read it to her?"

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Okay, nobody really said that, but I felt like some people were asking sensible questions, and others were projecting their own standards on my marriage. A couple times, I felt a little creeped out and intruded upon, but at the end of the day, I go home to my beloved.

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The big day. We were planning to go out for the evening, but had to change our plans. That's okay. I love her; she loves me, and after 20 years, we're still just getting started...