Ironing

24/11/12

We are now preparing for work and this involves the inevitable ironing marathon.  I decided to set a new trend as this is a fresh and exciting place, hopeful this enthusiasm would spread to the ironing arena.  However I am a realist so expecting Dan to do all his ironing is NOT realistic.  He’d start to do it then his hands will start to hurt (oh no sorry that’s the washing up) anyway like I said not realistic.  So I ironed my clothes and three of Dan’s shirts and his trousers leaving him 2 shirts.  I am pleased to say that during his student days Aimee taught Dan to iron so he is not as ignorant to the sport as he lets on.  So I left him to iron his shirts and at the end he proudly summoned me to inspect his craft.  It was pretty good to I ooed and ahhhed in all the right places.  Dan then went to hang it up and promply dropped the shirt on the floor.  He stood there distraught staring at the crumpled heap which five seconds ago had been a picture of smoothness. I suggested he pick it up and shake it out and quickly hang it again.  He did this and unperturbed he went on to iron the second shirt.  I think I got away with it... 

Dan by a rope swing at Lake

Life here in so many ways is the same as the UK.  The sun rises every morning, sets every evening, there are trees and rivers, hills and mountains.  Yet I look back over my life and feel amazed and excited at what we have done to get here.  As a child I made my mum promise I would never have to leave home, as a teenager I dreamed of changing the world and as an ‘adult’ well what of me now? 

I’m not going to lie, what Dan sees as an adventure I often see as a challenge.  There is still a part of me that echoes that child’s thought of ‘don’t make me leave home, where I know I’m loved and with people I love’.   Yet something has grown in me, a core strength that makes me want to embrace the challenge for the sake of the adventure.  There are two things that I think have contributed to this spirit.  The first is my love of Jesus.  When I was sixteen I asked the question, ‘is there more than this’, ‘why’, ‘what next’ and what I found was a loving God who moves us to action, triumphs over  fear and liberates us to be all we can be.  I still feel fear, doubt and worry but stronger than this is my faith that where God leads us, he prepares for us.   If you lose the desire to conform to the world you gain a life the world cannot conform to.   Secondly is my amazing husband.  People talk about the perfect man.  Dan is not.   I had the foresight to acknowledge this before I married Dan.  This meant that our relationship is based on a true understanding and love of who each of us are.  For me this means I feel utterly loved, cherished and supported in my imperfections and when I fail to be the person I’d like to be.  Where I fall Dan puts out his hand takes mine and places it in back in the Lords.  You don’t need perfection.  You just need a Dan.