A Different Path Than Most

 My Dad use to say that he was born 100 years to late . He was a cowboy through and through, he loved to hunt, trap and probably would have been able to live off the land if he wanted to . He stuck out like a sore thumb in todays world, he was very different but he was my Dad .There are days where I think the same applies to me, I'm very different than most 25 year olds. Most 25 year olds nowadays have just recently graduated from college, most aren't married and if they are they just newly married. Kids are nowhere on there radar screen. Some partied in college , slept around , and had there fair share of hangovers . That just isn't me . I am so different from that. I went to college but never could figure out what I wanted to do so after 2 years of college I took a break and never returned. One thing I always wanted to be was a Mom, I couldn't see any career that would top being a fulltime Mom. Nothing to me was worth my time away from my future children. I can count on one hand how many alcholic drinks I've had in my entire life and I have never been anywhere remotely close to being drunk and I've never been to a college party. I was raised to be an adult, to be responsible. I just never had any desire to do the things that most young adults my age did, my ambitions were much much different.

Matt and I met in November of 2004. I was 18 he was 20 . I was in first semester of college at North Greenville University. At the time my major was Mass Communications . We started dating, and everything went fast. He told me he loved me on our third date, and pretty much asked me to marry him on our 5th date. Within a month after our first date he was ready to buy a ring and to get engaged. As you could imagine my parents weren't exactly thrilled about me marrying a guy that I had just been dating for a month so we waited. As time went by we became closer and closer, he was my best friend . It seemed that if I wasn't in class and he wasn't at work we were together. Matt rented a place close to my school so we could spend more time together. Gas prices were soaring, or so we thought then and it was getting expensive to drive back and fowarth. I remember sitting in line at a gas station in Campobello for 1.99 gas . We of course at the time thought that price was ridiculously high . What I wouldn't give for that price now .

After my first year of college ended in May of 2005 I moved in with Matt . My Mom always told me not to marry a person until I had lived with  them . That you could never have know a person until you have lived with them, and learned there quirks, habits and how they really were when they didnt' have there best face on. Looking back it probably wasn't the most christian thing to do, but at the time it seemed like the right thing to do . We had absolutely nothing . I think our accumulation of furniture included bunk beds, a dresser, a stereo and one end table and a turn dial tv that we paid 10 dollars for a goodwill . At the time Matt was working for BFC Construction and I was waiting tables at IHOP on third shift . We were beyond broke, but we made it . We made it through the summer , and on August 14th which also happens to be my birthday Matt took me up to Caesars Head at sunrise and proposed . It hadn't quite be a year yet, but it had been much more than when he had first proposed . We knew each other much better than we did then. Both of our families were thrilled and the wedding planning began . Within a month we had set a date, September 30, 2006 which also happened to be my Aunt Barb and Uncle Clair's 40th anniversary . I was 19 years old and planning a wedding . Almost all of my friends had no plans of a wedding in there near future. 

A little over a year after Matt first proposed we were married at Lake Welchell in Gaffney SC . It was a beautiful day. I had just turned 20 and Matt was 22 .  By that time we had moved to a little apartment that was closer to both of our work . We had accumulated lot more furniture and I had started working full time . We still didn't have much money, but my estimation of wealth has never been how much is in the bank account . There are many more important things in life . Soon that little apartment became very little for the two of us and our two dogs that we had adopted from the humane society , Hershey and Maggie . Within 6 months after the wedding this Mama began longing for children . Matt however thought it was to soon . There was no way we could have fit a baby in that little apartment anyway so we started looking and we eventually moved to Plantations at Haywood Apartments . Our 2 bedroom apartment was much bigger, and was much more like a home than anything that we've lived in before . And the best part was there was fire place. Within 6 months of moving in, I was pregnant with our first child .  With a baby on the way we began looking for a house, someplace where our dogs could go outside, so we wouldn't have to walk them. (I know we move alot, so far we are at home number 4 in 4 years) . When I was about 4-5 months pregnant we found a cute little 2 bedroom house. It wasn't to much more than 800 square feet, it was just a little smaller than our apartment and it only had one bathroom . It needed some work, and even though it was just a rental we fixed it up .They said whatever you want to do to make it look nicer, your free to do it just don't tear it up . We painted just about every room, and Matt refinished the hardwood floors. We didn't have much money so thankfully the landlord paid for some of the improvements . At the time Matt was still working for the construction company . They told Matt he could have any paint and wood that was leftover that he wanted, and a man that did work on some of there buildings lent him a sander so he could refinish the floors . Eventually we added a small deck and Matt built a small shed in the back yard, all built our of free wood. I think the improvements maybe costed us 100.00 total . It was all worth it to make it a home , to make it nice because we really had intended on staying there for a while .  About a month after we moved into this house Matt switched jobs. His job at BFC Construction had ended, thankfully God had blessed us with a job offer that was much better paying months before that job ended. He started at Bailey's Electrical Service on April 1st 2008. He really liked the job, but at the time a lot of travel was required and that was new to us. We adjusted quickly, we really had no choice . About 2-3 weeks later I quit my job . We had planned on me being a stay at home Mom and my due date was getting closer and I was getting larger and it was much harder to be on my feet all day waiting tables . Once I quit working it became apparently clear that I was going to have to learn to be creative with out finances if I was going to stay at home full time . Matt was making significantly more at his new job but it still was not as much as we both made before he started this job and we had a considerable amount of debt. It became obvious that some things had to change, sacrifices had to be made and things had to be done differently  Most people say going from two incomes to one can't be done, that due to economic times it was just impossible but I love a challenge and I was determined to succeed .