(This one was written by our son, John, who claims to have no blogging experience;  but seems to be quite experienced in teaching the rest of us a thing or two about life and relationships.  Thanks, JohnnyO!)  

I have never written a blog, read a blog, or even referenced a blog in my entire life until these 30 days. It’s not that I have anything against people expressing their thoughts, giving advice, and taking advantage of a platform to be heard, blogs simply are not who I am.

To be entirely honest, I don’t even understand the spacing in these things.

I feel like I can be reading the first paragraph, and then all of a sudden two sentences later, I’m at the bottom of page 5 and can’t seem to figure out how I got there. Nonetheless, if these blogs were to be printed, copied, or scanned, I would highly encourage you to check out Sharp’s MX-M4070N to lower your CPC’s and increase work-flow efficiencies.

Okay I’m done with the sarcastic snootiness for now. As for a more formal introduction to this brief post, I am John, Steve & Lori’s youngest son. Clay, my older brother, posted a blog prior to this that yet again shows the major differences in personalities and day to day thoughts. I entered into the corporate world out of college, as my brother continues to do the Lord’s work down in Greenwood. The differences in our daily lives and what we are surrounded by could not be more extreme. But the fundamental make-up of our DNA, morals, and values are shared closely thanks to the role models that our parents were to us growing up. The amount of respect that I have for my brother and mother’s ability to properly articulate meaningful, raw, and emotion-driven posts is incredible to me.

Clay and I were blessed with the perfect parents. And I mean perfect. Please disregard all former posts in this blog that eliminate the concept of perfection in marriage. Perfection is something that I believe is 100% attainable, and actualization is relative to each application of the word. For marriage (disclaimer – I am not married), my parents have gotten to that point of being the best that they can be, together. This does not mean that they do not make mistakes or have issues and arguments, this means that they have bought into the acceptance of continual improvement, communicating said improvement, and celebrating the improvement as it comes. This type of mentality is one that they have passed down to their children, and everyone that they come into contact with. It’s, in my opinion, the mindset of every growing Christian, or in a worldly example, a professional athlete. The idea of waking up every morning, wanting to be better than you were the day before, accepting defeat and growing from it, and in this specific instance, doing all of this with another human being.

A little over a year ago, I started seeing this girl. If you follow me on any social media sites, she is the model in all the pictures that looks like she has no business being around a gimpy old 23 year old like me. She has brought a tremendous amount of joy, positivity, and mainly energy into my life. She loves hiking, cooking, talking about her emotions, dancing around (everywhere), meeting as many people as possible, and baseball. So essentially the exact opposite of me. We have not always been on the same page, and to be entirely transparent, our differences in the beginning nearly tore us apart. I 100% give credit to my parents, the way that I was raised, and what I witnessed as a child as to the reasons why we are together and happier than ever to this day. Because very early on in our friendship, even before we started dating, I hammered home the concept of communication time and time again, because that’s what I was privileged with witnessing as a child. I learned early on that when two people love each other, it’s not easy. But the challenge is what brings the love together. When one of us is struggling or pulling the other one down, (don’t act like your relationship doesn’t have this both ways, because I tried and failed miserably), the other has that duty to come alongside and help level them back out.

Jasmine and I have progressively gotten better at approaching situations as a “we” and not a “me”. Similar to my parents, Jasmine has a slightly higher emotional range than I do, and sometimes my lack of reaction leads to the black hole of emotional confusion that I will never escape. Seeing my parents consistently extend grace and forgiveness to one another despite the situation has had a lasting impact on my life and my relationships.

To wrap up this jumbled up, most unprofessional attempt at communicating the value of these incredible role models, I would like to share what I see as an ideal marriage to my unmarried eyes. I see ambitions, dreams, happiness, struggles, burdens, and sorrow merging between two people. I see a spouse lifting up their partner, even when they are having the worst of days. I see two completely different genders taking 55 credit hours a week trying to learn and understand the tendencies and emotions that make the other person tick. I see humility in the successful times, and I see a burning fire of faith, hope, and love, that cannot be put out in the worst of times. I see a lifestyle and culture that passes down to the next generation without having to use words. I see love. I see my parents.

If this is your first blog post that you are reading in this series, I urge you to go start at Day 1 and soak up the wisdom and vulnerability that is written in each post. I am beyond thankful for my mother and her heart to love and care for everyone around her.