Live 31

Raymond and I started dating when I was 18, and he was 31. Yep, that's a 13 year difference. This guy I worked with saw us exchanging numbers and he came up to me and said "you know he's like 30 and 3 times your size, right?" Sounds like someone didn't want me to go out with him, huh? Well, I didn't have time for his jealousy and totally didn't even think anything of his comments. We didn't find out until our first date how old one another was. At first I was a little taken back, and I'm sure he needed a new pair of britches, badly. But  it's obvious what they say is true, 'age ain't nothin' but a number, baby', and we've been together ever since!

That being said, with such a huge age difference, we each had a lot to learn from one another. While I've never really had a "wild side", I will say that I was definitely in my prime of becoming an adult and experiencing pure freedom. I had a lot of growing as a person, and woman to do.

One thing that I noticed almost immediately, and has become one of the main things I love about Raymond, is the morals he has, and what he expects of a woman, of his woman. Not as in "woman prepare my dinner", but as in "woman respect yourself enough to make others want what we have." I love this quality about him because it let's me know that he respects me as a person, his girlfriend, and expects me to do the same of myself. To be honest, I never really cared what anyone thought about me. I live the way I want to live and that's that. Nobody's opinion of me is going to alter that. Of course, I still slightly believe this, but now, I live with my head held high and my morals even higher.

I do believe that people can change other people and after living/being with/around someone for an amount of time, you start to believe in the things they believe, or else you probably wouldn't get along very well. While I wont say that Raymond has changed me completely, he has definitely taught me and changed me in ways that I am thankful for. And I hope that I am and will always be a woman he is proud to call his.

The point of me telling you all of this, is because the other day I was reading Ruthie's blog and she had done a post on being a Proverbs 31 Woman, which you can check out here. Now, I will be the first person to tell you that I really am not religious at all. I grew up as a child knowing nothing about God other than he is some man in the sky. Haha! My parents never pushed any beliefs on me, whether it be believing in Him or not. That was left up for me to find out and explore on my own if I ever felt the need or want. I am so thankful I was brought up this way, because to me, I don't want to be persuaded by anybody's beliefs other than my own. I want the reason I believe in something to come from my own heart and my own mind rather than my parents telling me it's true 'cause their parents said so. (Not that there is anything wrong with growing up with parents teaching their kiddos that their is or isn't, I just am happy with the way I was raised.) Back to the point, after I read Ruthie's post and watched the video submitted from Live 31, I completely related to it. I felt pulled in and wanted to learn more about it.

Like I said before, I am not in any sort religious. For the past few years now I have worked on myself as a person and woman to become something I believe my family and one-day husband will be proud of. Some times I felt unsure of what was right or wrong, what was good or bad, what was proper or not, but this video has given me some extra light and ensured that I am on the right path with who I want to become in this life.

I challenge you all, believers or not, to just view the video. It really is touching, and meaningful, and could possibly help you realize who you want to become!