10 Years

Well, today's the day. 10 years ago it was a rainy saturday in Newberry SC where we got married. Is the first decadet the toughest? I know we've had our share of ups and downs.


So the rings: As an anniversary gift this year we each had something engraved on the other's ring. I went with "through thick and thin" inside of her ring. 10 years ago I weighed in at 140 lbs (60 lbs lighter than I am today) and since she lost 80 lbs in the last year it's been a flip flop. First I was thin, and she was thick (at least in her mind), then we switched roles. But we have also been through thick and thin times financially and emotionally as well. We've had savings and been unemployed. We've been really close and had plenty of times where I couldn't stand the sight of her. And I'm sure all of those patterns will repeat themselves at other times in the next 10 years.


She put "Bad ass husband since 11-14-98" on the inside of my ring. My brother Morgan and I started this thing a few years ago when we were building a deck on a rental property. If you're going to do something, do it like a bad-ass. So we did bad ass deck building. Then it spread to bad ass construction, bad ass landscaping, and eventually devolved into bad ass babysitting and bad ass floor mopping, etc. So take anything that you have to do today, and do it bad ass. That's Flynn style. When I ran my first triathlon in August, Wifey made a plaque for me that now hangs on my office wall declaring me a Bad Ass Triathlete. So being a bad ass husband is awesome. and if you want bad ass home repairs to come cut your grass, I'll send Morgan. He's cheap and needs the work.


I am currently bathing in batchelor bliss. Wifey took the girls thursday up to her dad's in Raleigh, and left out this morning to head up to VA. Men love to be in control no matter what they tell you in bed. After marriage and kids, we have to give up so much control of our time it is really depressing. We go from doing what we want to do whenever we want to do it, to waiting on the wife to finish putting makup on, to OMG we can't leave the house without 20 minutes of packing and we have to be back here by 7:45 to start the bedtime routine and then we can't leave again or do anything that will make enough noise to wake one of them. I can't even choose when I stop working for the day anymore. I tend to stop when she throws one of the babies towards me screaming "this is the one i'm going to murder if you don't put down the laptop and take her right now". So to have four days to make all the choices, control my own time, work, play, eat, sleep on my schedule, and actually accomplish what I want to do without having to sweat what someone else wants me to do is GLORIOUS. Oh it's fantastic. By far the best anniversary gift a husband can get. I know after a week or two I would really miss the girls and be ready for their return. But today is fantastic.


Just like last night. I worked until I finished the task I was working on. Then went to the gym for a 6 mile run on the treadmill. It was a great run, took about an hour and 6 minutes, and burned about 900 calories. Right across the parking lot from the gym is a Little Ceasar's pizza place. So I picked up a cheese pizza, came home and ate the whole thing. I know that immediately cancels out my 900 calorie workout. But it was 9 pm when I got home and started eating. I didn't have to be home at 8 to get the babies to bed. I didn't have to feed Wifey, she didn't have to feed me. I didn't have to eat when anyone else was hungry. Glorious.


Also last night I tried some new stuff. I bought some Heed and Recoverite online, and it came in the other day. The Heed was kind of tough to choke down. I normally use Gatorade but hate the sugar. I dilute half gatorade and half water into 2 20 oz bottles for the long runs to cut the intensity some, and that works great. But one scoop of Heed in a 20 oz water bottle was really tough. It was chalky and the flavor (lemon-lime) was horrible. The recoverite was fantstic though. It went down easy and the flavor was very good. It's a recovery drink with the optimal 3:1 carbs to protein ratio and tons of micronutrients like glucosamine. So it has everything you need right after a good run. Very cool. Give it a try.


So last weekend we had a really good photo shoot to get pics of the girls in the fall colors. We only hit 2 locations, a neighbor's yard with a really cool tree, and the church where Bigun goes to kindergarten has a neat bridge and open play area.

First, a couple from the backyard. These are just so cute!

For this one, she said "Mommy, you have to take a picture of my sad face". and then progressivly made more sad faces until we got this one. How could anybody say no to those eyes? That is sooooooo cute. No babies were actually sad during the taking of these pictures.

Finally here's the both of them under the cool tree near the house.

And Wifey got in there for some photo fun

This is me and the girls at the church. They had fun playing in all of those leaves.

They really had a good time playing in all of those leaves. I love how they carpet the ground this time of year.

And here's me and the girls on the bridge. For a church parking lot, it's a neat place and we had a great time. Plus it let's you non-southerners see just how green Greenville is. We don't restrict the trees to just church parking lots. The whole town is like this. Everything is very clean and there are plenty of trees everywhere. It's gardening zone 7b, so nearly everything to sub-tropical will grow here. And if you google earth it, you'll see more trees than anything else. But we still have a population over 1,000,000 people.

So for the weekend I have to get in a 14 mile long run tomorrow morning. Wifey is going to have a lot of fun running 14, then going shopping with her friends. I'm planning on getting hot wings and watching football.

Sunday I think I will try my first group ride on the bike! It's a group that starts near my house and rides up Paris Mountain (which is not really a mountain). But part of this route was used during the U.S. Cycling Championships when they were here a few months ago. It's an 18.2 mile out and back, and is expected to take about 2 hours. I'm really getting excited about this. If you are in the area Sunday at 2 pm meet us out there. It's going to be so cool! It's called the Paris Mt Sunday Ride, and they are going to do it every sunday apparently.

So now I'm going to write some bad ass code, and work on a bad ass website or two. Have a great weekend!