Corona Virus Quarantine Day #283: Happy Anniversary x 16: December 31, 2020:
It’s hard to believe that I am old enough to have been married for 16 years or to be entering the 20th year of my life with Bryan Dorsey at my side. It’s clique to say they have gone by so fast, but sadly, that is true. We have three 10 year olds living in our house and a dog that’s about to be 15 years old…so I know I’m not imagining this craziness!
16 years ago today on a warm, sunny (seriously it was like 60 degrees) Chicago day, I married my best friend and the best man I had ever or will ever know. I believed that on December 31, 2004 and I believe it even more today.
That wedding (if I do say so myself) was one of the most fun wedding’s I’ve ever attended. Aside from the beautiful Christmas decor and bright lights…the food, dessert table, dancing and of course open bar sealed the deal for one of the best nights of all time. Certainly one of the best of my entire life.
I always felt like New Years Eve was a bust prior to that particular New Year’s. It’s typically an expensive night where you dress up and expect a lot of fun and often end up disappointed with how the night transpired. NOT this night. I was in a room with all my favorite people dancing, singing and I had just married my very best friend. It was a pretty awesome day!
I feel incredibly blessed to be on this journey with Bryan Matthew Dorsey so on this New Year’s Eve of definitely the strangest, but most certainly not the most difficult year we’ve lived through together in the last 20 years, I am going to celebrate our marriage, our friendship and the four happiest days of our entire life together.
The man who planned the most perfect engagement and surprised me in a way I could never have even guessed possible the year before at Ellis Island on December 30, 2000!
The happiest day of our lives. December 31, 2004.
After our wedding day, May 5, 2010 was definitely the next BEST day of our life. Not only did GOD bless us with one child but three in one day. Finley Joseph, Ellen Anne and Cooper Claerhout are three of the greatest blessings in this world. The story that goes along side these blessings has it’s share of hardship and sadness but that day, was easily the BEST day of our life up to that point. Seeing those three tiny humans and knowing that they were going to be ok was the greatest day of our lives. These three have brought us immeasurable joy since the day they entered this world just a little bit early! Little did we know…contrary to what we were told….we’d get to experience this joy twice more!
February 13, 2012 another “BEST” day of our lives. Fiona Bell Dorsey came into the world. We were told this wasn’t possible…but here she was in all her glory. GOD really knows what he is doing, because in her, he created a bundle of goodness that will set the world on fire! Again, we were told this would be it…again, they got it wrong.And for the grand finale…Fletcher Matthew Dorsey entered this world on March 31, 2015. He came into the world with his eyes wide open ready to party…it should have been a sign that he’d keep us all on our toes and all of us laughing. He is one of five of the greatest gifts GOD has ever given us. The next best day of our lives for sure!
We cannot forget our first “born” in Zoey Dorsey. She got me through some challenging years before the babies arrived and when they did she protected them like they were hers. When I was pregnant with the triplets, Fiona and Fletcher she slept next to my belly every night, that was the only time she ever slept by my side instead of Bryan’s. She is a special dog and GOD knew I needed her.
This year we decided to add to our family and Gigi has been a lot of fun. Sometimes, a lot of work, but mostly fun and she’s a good and sweet and loyal dog. Gigi Jingles makes us all smile!
There isn’t enough memory space in these posts to allow me to post all the amazing things we have gotten to do together as a couple. By far our biggest, best and most important adventure is that of being parents. I’d like to think we are doing a pretty good job and raising kids that are kind, thoughtful, hard working and honest. I cannot wait to see what they do with their lives. Thank you for creating a home where we can build the very best memories with our kids, our nephews and their friends.
I couldn’t talk about our life together and not mention this part of it. Coaching with you is the one thing, next to being a parent with you, that I love the most. You are an incredible coach, the best I know and the young women we mentor are incredibly lucky to have you in their lives. I always say it’s very important for young women to have a man, aside from their own father, in their life to show them how a man should treat a woman and teach them how they should demand to be treated one day. These girls couldn’t have a better example. We are blessed to get to walk beside these young women as they navigate high school and later in their life we get to be there on the biggest days, their weddings, the birth of their children and sometimes, sadly, we are there on the hardest days too. But I wouldn’t trade any of it for a second. These young women are a part of our family and they bless us and our kids in many ways.
So on our 16th anniversary…I am grateful for my husband, who’s a rock star. I’m grateful for our 5 amazingly beautiful miracle babies Finley, Ellen, Cooper, Fiona and Fletcher. I’m grateful for our families, we are both blessed with awesome families. I am grateful for our fur babies Zoey and Gigi. I am grateful for jobs we both love. I am grateful for the many young women we have coached and those that we will coach in the future. We are so blessed Bryan Matthew. Thank you for 16 beautiful years and here’s to many, many more!
#Celebr8Awesome 