Saturday night, my husband and I had a very much needed date night. I think it had been over a month since we had our last date, and I was feeling it. He had been working long hours at home with work. My kids’ schedules are in full swing with school, soccer, and dance class.

We finally got to check out Hop City Barleygarden at Pinewood Studio. While the atmosphere was very cool and upscale-casual (is there such a thing?), we were expecting more. Perhaps because we love going into the city to dine. The food wasn’t bad, but there wasn’t anything that would draw me back.

During dinner, I mentioned to my husband that I felt that we weren’t in sync. This naturally happens when your schedules are too full, and it hasn’t been the first time this has happened in our marriage. However, we love and know each other well enough to be able to recognize when things are not right, talk about it, and make appropriate efforts to make things rights. Little did we know that a challenge would arise later on that night!

After dinner, we ran a few errands, and ended up eating ice cream from Rock Salt (so good!) and walking around downtown Newnan. Because we’re getting old and are boring, we went back home, watched a little tv, and then I went to bed.

Unfortunately, my sleep didn’t last very long. Around midnight, my husband woke me up, complaining of serious pain in his midsection. He’s been fighting major acid reflux, and after talking it through, I just told him to go to the emergency room. Poor guy, he had to drive by himself, but I wasn’t sure if they would let me go with him and we also had the kids at home, sleeping.

Throughout the night, he texted me with updates. Around 4:30am, it was discovered that he had a very large stone blocking at the neck of the gallbladder. He was immediately scheduled for surgery. I then immediately started messaging my personal network to get all our ducks in a row: I needed babysitters for the kids so that I could go to the hospital, I needed my class to be covered in the morning, and we needed all the prayers we could get!

Long story short, we survived it all! My husband had his gallbladder removed, I was able to take him home, the kids were taken care of, and all the bases were covered with work. He is recovering beautifully, and all is well in the land.

Even though this is not how I would choose to refresh our marriage, it definitely did the trick! This ordeal required us to communicate, focus on each other, and appreciate each other’s strengths. The entire ordeal was stressful, physically tiring, and yet we were renewed spiritually and emotionally. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

This weekend was a rollercoaster of emotions. I already knew that I was blessed and loved, but I was able to see it manifested . Family and friends were reaching out, offering prayers, food, child-care… anything and everything that we would need. I am humbled by the support and love we received. We are surrounded by a community that cares for us, and it did not go unnoticed. Even the staff at Piedmont Fayette were so kind and caring. Thank you to my village.