Blaine and I got married during his first semester of college. Very nearly in his first month of college. See Blaine and I dated all through high school and got engaged about ten seconds after he returned home from his mission in Spain. He started BYU in January of 2003, and we got married on Valentines Day of the same year [insert big romantic sigh here, but it's really unnecessary since we only got married that day because it was a three day weekend and we had a day off of school--and as an aside to this aside, do yourself a favor and get married when you can have longer than a 48 hour honeymoon].
Needless to say, we were poor. For a looooooong time. Two college students, random low paying student type jobs. I mean sure our 350 sq ft apartment was only $395 a month, but that was about all we were pulling in at that time. You may think I jest at the size of the apartment, but I assure you...I do not. You could sit on the loveseat and cook a meal on the stove at the same time, and if you are good at multi-tasking you could probably be cleaning out the fridge all the while. And, no joke, the bathroom was like one foot by five feet, very long and skinny, so you actually had to sit sideways on the toilet. Ahhh, those were the days. Yes, I am certainly glad that I can now plug in two appliances without burning a fuse and sending our apartment into blackness until the landlords got home (because the fuse was on their side of the basement).
But I digress.....we were poor. Did I mention that? And on top of being poor we were frugal. Didn't spend money on much. We scrimped and saved so that Blaine could buy this. Which was like...the first ipod, but like three years before ipods. (not sure why I am throwing that in here, other than the fact that it is SO HUGE compared to what everyone uses for music these days and we saved so long and spent so much on that sucker!).
One day I was quite sick of being poor, sick of living in an apartment with no sunlight and no space at all, I was sick of being a student. I had just had it. And Blaine made me mad. Real mad. I really can't remember what he did (probably nothing!), but I decided I had had enough.
And I went to the store and I bought Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner AND even splurged for some face wash. It was my way of rebelling. My way of sticking it to the man.
Not real sure my logic there since I did the finances and likely Blaine never knew or cared about my spending spree. But it felt good. It felt good to be able to comb through my hair after the shower. It felt good to smell nice. It felt good to wash my face.
Well after four long years we finished school. We got our first job, got our first house, had some kids, and so on. And we've never been rich by any means, but we've certainly been very blessed and very comfortable. Able to buy things like diapers and....food.
And now that we have been in the working world for four years, I finally had another breakdown. And I did something I've been wanting to do for about eight years now. I bought shaving gel.
I know right? Gluttony in the very sense of the word. I have no idea in the world why I haven't ever felt that I could drop the two dollars and eighteen cents that shave gel costs, but I haven't...till last week. And oh baby. Life is pretty much complete. And for some reason, I thought you all might like to know...my legs are shaved, I didn't cut myself, and life is good!
Now....who's ready to go to law school and plummet in to debt again? ! Yay! (maybe I will stock up on shave gel....)
