Originally Posted by soapy

25 Years ago tomorrow I remember standing next to Pauline, we were both standing at the altar and I was shit scared. What would life hold for us?
It was in the 80? And the future looked dismal to say the least.
People were out of work everywhere and it didn’t look like it was going to get any better.
Most of my friend had never worked after leaving school and no sign of ever doing so.
Being so young most people said it would never last.
After a few weeks we managed to get our first rental. It was a shithole but we made it home as best we could. Our first was born and we struggled finically for a long time. But we were happy!
After a year or so we managed to get our first council house. Then came our second child. A few years later we had our third.
We always felt we were fighting to survive.
Pauline had always wanted to go and get a better education; she felt she had missed out on marrying and having the kids so young. She could see that we would be stuck in the same place forever if something didn’t change. I thought I was doing the right thing and working my arse off to keep us all going.
After about 10 years of marriage we managed to get our first holiday together. Family and friends looked after the kids while we both went off to find each other. It was an eye opener for both of us, because we wondered if spending a couple of weeks together without kids or work to distract us we might not even like each other.
We had a great time and really found the reason why we were still together. Not only did we love each other, but we still liked each other. The holiday was exactly what we both needed. We both came back with a better outlook to our lives.
Pauline had nagged me for years for her to train as a midwife. I couldn’t see how it would work, because someone had to look after the kids. She came up with a plan for our future.
I would give up work and she would train. That meant I was to become a househusband!
To be very honest we had nothing to lose. My job was going nowhere and the money was pish, so I gave in.
It was tough and when i say tough. I mean it was the poorest we had ever been. It was a struggle to feed us all at times and paying bills was a killer, but we struggled through. Pauline had a goal and she was determined to finish it. It meant she had to do other work while training to feed us. At times this was taking its toll on Pauline. Trying to study and work 12 hour shifts was really hard on her.
After four years of training she finally passed all her exams and graduated. Now all she needed was a job. She had to sweat it out for a few months.
There’s only a few times in our life when I have sat and thought “what the fk have we done”
Pauline had had an interview and was waiting to hear back. They told her she would hear by 6 that day. The council had been chasing us for rent. So the deal was. We could only pick up the phone if it was the hospital for Pauline. Thank gawd for caller display lol
The phone rang and it was the hospital to tell Pauline she had the job. 5 mins later the council called and we told them they would be getting the rent in a month lol. That’s how hard it was for us. After about 2 years we had cleared all our debt and the future looked rosy. The kids were a bit older and i could go back to work. Before too long we had bought our first house and we really did feel content for the first time in our lives. We had bought an older house that needed a lot of work so we began renovating it. While doing this we had started on the road to Australia. Any money made from the house would fund our Australian adventure. I had changed my job and i was also working for myself. After five years of planning our visas arrived. Financially for once we were pretty well off. People thought it was mad and that we would never go through with it. Well the rest is history and can be read in any of our updates if you want to search for them.
Anyone who knows us will know that Pauline deserves more than a medal for putting up with my pish this long.

So tomorrow I will turn to Pauline just like I did to that wee lassie at the altar and think.......... What will life hold for us?
Only this time I won’t be scared!

I consider myself very lucky; I can look back at all our hardships and know they are part of our growth. It has made us stronger, more determined and what we are today. We have 3 fantastic young adults that we love to bits and we are very happy.
We you have someone as strong as Pauline by your side you know you can achieve everything.
LOVE is not a strong enough word to describe how I feel about her.
She is my rock and my soul mate.

Pauline, when you read this, and I know you will (because you’re nosey) can I just say thanks for the last 25 years of laughs, good, hard times, my kids and you.

I LOVE YOU
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Originally Posted by midgetjan

Congratulations to you both - what a lovely read.

My OH (also Rob from Scotland) and I will celebrate our 25th anniversary this July. I don't expect such a touching speach from him though.... Well done Soapy.