i do ... FOR REAL!

this afternoon we were on our way to ikea

i had drew and ben in my car and as usual they were covering a wide variety of subjects :)

at one point they started asking me about my grandparents

this eventually led to what my maiden name was.

at this point drew had to stop to make sure that ben understood what that meant.

'it's like this. when daddy and mommy got married -

then mommy's last name changed to daddy's last name.

and when mommy gets married to her next husband - then she'll take his name.

and when daddy marries his next wife - then she'll have to take daddy's name.'

i didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

of course i stopped him and explained that stacey and i plan to never have another husband or wife.

what is sad to me though, is that divorce is so prevalant that my kids think it is normal and something that will inevitably happen.

now i realize that noone plans for their marriage to end in divorce.

and it happens. i get that.

BUT ... after today i realized that my kids need to understand the vows that stacey and i took.

i don't ever want them to question the stability of our relationship.

i want them to understand what marriage means to us ...

and i want them to understand that when we said 'i do' ...

it was SO much more than a name change.

it was 2 people saying it won't be easy, we won't always get along ...

but we're in this together ...

and i am commited 100% to never having to change my name again