My husband,
True love is like leaving stones on a path, so you can find your way back home.
Our love... is a true love.
And we have many rocks along our path.
It is hard for me to see you as someone other than the very same person I knew way back in the beginning of our relationship. High school to be exact.
Not only are you the very same person, but I feel like I am the same person too.
Just extended.
I have extended myself into a mother, most importantly, to four beautiful souls.
It is my daily call to life.
But I am also a wife. Your wife. And this year, we celebrate nine years.
Nine years.
Married.
That doesn't seem quite as wild as saying we have been together for fourteen years this December though. Fourteen?!
We were lucky enough to have found each other when we were just teenagers. Our senior year, on two different paths, that happened to collide in an Ecomonics class.
Until then, we didn't know that either existed. It is so plain to see that God had a plan for our lives.
We dated casually for a good part of our senior year. Mostly doing things together with a group of friends. I was insecure about the fact that you liked me, and that you were shorter than I was. At that age, I was concerned what others would think about my relationship more than what I actually wanted to let myself feel for you.
But thankfully, you never gave up on me.
By the summer after graduation, I had really let myself fall for you.
I let all my insecurities fade into the background, and I let you love me. And in turn, I found that I really loved you.
I loved being with you. And doing cheesy things like playing miniature golf, or carving pumpkins together.
I loved holding your hand as we drove around in your Monte Carlo.
I loved writing little notes to you and leaving them on your car. And making you handmade Valentines, and Anniversary cards.
I loved kissing you. And I mean really kissing you. Spending hours cuddled on a couch just tangled in each others lips. Listening to the hum of the TV in the background.
I loved that we let ourselves become a mess of tears while watching a movie of a love lost because we automatically turned ourselves into the characters.
I loved our innocence. Young hearts on fire.
And that we reserved ourselves for marriage.
I loved that we were friends first above all else. To cherish who we were as people, and not just as an object of affection.
I loved that we were on this unbeaten path together.
We decided that we wanted to wed about four years into our relationship. Talking about where we wanted to live, the kinds of things we wanted to do together as we aged, how many kids we would have... you know, the usual pre marital musings that two people talk about before a man proposes.
I knew that you were going to ask me to marry you soon. We were looking at rings online, deciding what I liked and how much you felt like you could afford to shell out for a carat diamond antique style white gold ring. I had found one that I liked. It was to be imported from Italy. And sold online from New York. It was a one of a kind. And it looked perfect even from a computer screen.
I somehow came to know that you had in fact ordered said ring, and intervened the mail courier to actually open it before you had a chance to ask me. I actually showed my sister the ring before you even got to see it!!
And therefore, have since been named your "mail order bride". Which is also why we don't have a definite engaged date. I think it was in May because we had an engagement party shortly after at the lake, and it was still chilly outside, and the day after we were supposed to go to the Indy 500 for the Memorial Day race... but drank a bit too much from our party the night before. Oops!
We decided on October 2 because it was the only date left that month in the year 2004. I wasn't willing to wait another year just to be married in October. So we ran with it.
Okay, I ran with it. Booking this and buying that. I was a wedding planning fool for the next four months.
Like most brides, I wanted everything to be perfect.
And it was.
The actual day however, came and went so quickly.
I remember feeling so tired as we settled into our honeymoon suite in Anderson, IN that night to be close to the airport to zip off to the Keys the next day.
Smiling at each other as we just kept saying, "We're married. We're married!"
It was surreal. Our relationship had finally made that turn.
We were finally a Mr. and Mrs.
Again, adding more stones on the path.
From our first real house in Auburn, to return trips to Key West. Fall parties and celebrating milestone birthdays in block party style. Buying dogs and going on shopping sprees for wardrobe and home essentials.
We were having a ball. Living life without caution. Just taking every day as it came.
And before we knew it, eight years had gone by. We had moved three more times!
We had done so many things as a twosome.
Loving fiercely all along the way.
And we were ready to share that with another human being.
We tried to get pregnant in 2006. And sadly, lost our first baby at 11 weeks.
It wasn't until eight months later that we would feel that excitement and cautious hope again.
Our first born entered our lives almost four years after we had been married.
And, I fell in love with you all over again.
You were suddenly part of this new realm to life. A parental realm. A dad. And, my heart was so full for you.
We moved {yet again} and fell pregnant just eight and a half short months after our first arrived.
A beautiful baby girl this time.
We were so complete. In that moment.
The quintessential "perfect" family.
Life just zipped by.
We moved again, and have since added two more precious beings to our family.
Through it all, my heart has always been fond of what we have accomplished. Together.
You.
It's always been you.
You build me up. You make me whole. I feel pretty, because of you. You tell me. You make me feel it.
You compliment my ability to raise our children.
You are often the one to apologize when we have a rift of the minds, and we are sitting with arms crossed at each other.
You don't care if you have to riffle through a mountain of laundry in the morning to find that matching sock. Or that your pants have wrinkles from being left in the dryer for days and then restarted time and again.
You appreciate me.
And you let me know it.
So today, my love I want to return that feeling of gratitude to you.
I want you to know that I appreciate and adore you. For everything that you are, and everything that you do.
From your grumbles at times, to that deep belly laugh when you see something funny while watching TV.
From the very beginning, until our very last days.
I love you.
I love dreaming about our future together. And making plans as a family.
And I look forward to many more stones along our path.
Happy Anniversary!
Babe.
Love your hot wife,
