Hello Charmings! When we embarked on a lifelong wedding anniversary project inspired by Carl & Ellie and their theme song “Married Life” in Disney Pixar’s “UP” we could never have imagined where it would take us.
Our mission for this project is that once a year we will add a balloon to represent each year of our marriage and take them to a place that was special to us that year of our Married Life.
It being our 5 year wedding anniversary we’re looking back in our adventure book and it’s amazing to see how far we’ve come! This California gal & Swedish fellow have moved about 10 times (mostly in just the last 2 years) and lived in 6 different countries & states.
Years 1 & 2 were in Sweden and year 3 in California! Year 4 & 5 took us on a grand adventure across America where we ended up in New York after struggling with nearly being homeless several times after a series of unfortunate events.
Ever since we almost ended up living on the street, the theme of finding home has been a major part of our lives the past several years. Watching Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times” 1936 is like watching our lives if we were in a silent movie!
So we thought for this year, why not mash it UP with the balloons! We are so pleased with the results but the similarities of our journey like Chaplin and Carl don’t end there…
As you may already know, after much hardship, we found a vintage tiny house to live in beside a historic cemetery in New York and are grateful every day to have this roof over our heads!
When we were rewatching “UP” this year we realized how uncanny it is that Cobweb Cottage went from gray to yellow just like Carl & Ellie’s dream house!
If there’s anything we’ve learned in the last 5 years is that to always have hope even during the darkest of times. Charlie Chaplin taught us to: (I can’t even tell you how many times this song appeared to us as an encouragement exactly when we needed it!)
“Light up your face with gladness
Hide ev-‘ry trace of sadness
Altho’ a tear may be ever so near
That’s the time
You must keep on trying
Smile, what’s the use of crying
You’ll find that life is still worth-while. If you just smile”
Both of these movies have been an incredible encouragement to us during all the UPs & downs of our married life. Because of them we’ve always tried to maintain a spirit of adventure, worked hard, and seen our dreams come true!
We’re so pleased with how this year’s project turned out and we had fun pretending to be silent movie characters! Maybe we should do more? Until next time remember, adventure is out there!
-Lindsay & Jonas
