17 years

536,405,152 seconds…

8,940,085 minutes…

149,001 hours…

6,209 days…

887 weeks…

204 months…

17 years.

Today marks 17 years of married life. I’m fairly sentimental, but not romantic or sappy. Mark and I are the definition of practical within our relationship. It’s always been that way. I don’t want or need gifts or a big wedding or regular date nights or a formula for success within my marriage. The reality is I choose him and he chooses me. Every day— for 6,209 days now.

Choosing each other is not always pretty.

There have been deeply dark days.

There have been blindingly bright days.

There have been desperately difficult days.

There have been jubilantly joyous days.

There have been mostly mediocre days.

Choosing each other is just what we do best.

All the dark, bright, difficult, joyous + mediocre days blur together into one amazing love story— my favorite love story. The story that gave me my happily ever after— married to my best friend, who knows me better than I know myself, + raising four kids, who drive me crazy while making my life more complete. The dark days were hard. The bright days were exciting. The difficult days were heartbreaking. The joyous days were euphoric. The mediocre days were a little of everything.

Making it through 17 years is something to celebrate. It is so cliche, but time really flies. I pray the next 17 years go just a little slower so I can savor more of the moments. I pray the years ahead are not limited to 17— or any set number really. I pray the upcoming years are filled with more bright + joyous days than dark + difficult days.

I pray we continue to choose each other every single day.

A Fresh Start + An Introduction

I can’t believe it has been over 5 years since my husband bought this domain name for me. There has been so much change in that time. When Pamlico Pam started, I was a night-shift nurse with a lot of free time because my four kids spent all day off at school. Loooong story short— public + charter schooling didn’t work out for my kids. Neither did hospital nursing. Today you’ll find me at home with a lot less free time as I homeschool four kids in middle + high school. I also used this space as a grief journal mostly, but I’m moving past that place in my life so I removed the grief diaries. Grief still exists in my life, but I have moved out of the fog a bit and it no longer consumes me the way it did for so long. So here’s to a fresh start. I’m not sure what I’ll be sharing, but I can promise it will be authentically me. Maybe crafting. Maybe my random thoughts. Maybe homeschool adventures.

Who am I? That’s a question I’ve struggled with for all of my adult life. Let’s start with the basics. I’m in my late 30s. In December 2004 I married a boy I first met in 2nd grade— that was 1991. Sometimes I think he knows me better than I know myself. He chose the name Pamlico Pam for me— and it fits better than anything I could have chosen. I am a mom of four kids, who I am also in charge of educating. That’s a bit intimidating but homeschooling is one of the best decisions we’ve ever made as a family. On paper I’m a registered nurse, but not in practice anymore. Sometimes it is okay to accomplish a goal and then decide that path isn’t the right one, right now. Other than the roles I possess as wife, mother, daughter, nurse— I am just a girl who is still finding herself in this world. I still can’t believe I am the adult around here. I love to create things with my own hands— from painting to procreate doodles to refinishing furniture to new crafts— but I’m in a bit of a creative drought. I’m an introvert at my core, an enneagram 6w5, and the wildest thing I’ve ever done is dye my hair rainbow colors. Alone time, naps, evenings at home, and day trips to find gems for Two Lane Treasures fuel me when I’m overwhelmed. I feel most at peace near the muddy water of the Pamlico River— hence the name Pamlico Pam. That space reminds me of my grandpa— my kids’ PopPop— and of my childhood. Welcome to my little corner of the internet and my randomness…