WARNING: This post might end up being uber cheesy. We're talking, end of Pretty Woman cheesy (saw it on tv the other day and forgot how cheesy it really was).
SIDENOTE: The title of this post is a shout-out to one of the greatest movies ever, Big. I am not, nor have I ever been, a Barbra Streisand fan. See, I don't even know if I spelled her name correctly. Anywho, moving on...
The last two weeks in April are a pretty big deal for Michael and myself. I guess I should start at the beginning, which would be three years ago TODAY (Happy Earth Day, by the way). Anyone who reads this post knows the story so I'm not going to get into it, but Michael and I met for the first time at an Earth Day party. I will be honest when I say I had high expectations from the very beginning. I didn't leave that weekend thinking, "I hope this will work out." Instead, I left praying, "I hope he is the one."
There are a few things about Michael that everyone knows. He is good-looking (I prefer "hot" but I think that might be rude to say--It's like saying your child is attractive. You know it's true but you can't really say it outloud), smart, shy, and one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Most only scratch the surface of him, but still realize these four attributes rather quickly. He doesn't enjoy being the center of attention, loathes it actually, so you miss a lot because he'd rather listen to you than talk about himself. And he's fascinating. So many people (ahem, ME) love to talk about themselves and usually have three things worth mentioning before they're done. It'd be nice if they stopped there but it is that type of person (ahem, still ME) that continues talking. Perhaps it's because he is so quiet, but he has a billion things he could tell you that you (a) didn't know and (b) would find interesting. I consider myself so lucky because I've learned a million of those things already, and I still have so many million to go...
We celebrate our dating anniversary on April 28. Michael has politely told me that we no longer celebrate the dating anniversary once we're married, but I will never forget it. He came to Fort Smith the following week after the Earth Day party and together we drove to Conway to see a Jimmy Eat World concert. I took off work the next day and we spent the entire day together. He kissed me that afternoon (right as I heard the garage door open, signifying mom was home from work) and so we've declared April 28 our anniversary day. He drove back to Tulsa that evening and I started thinking about wedding colors.
This is not our first picture, but it is one of the first. I think it was taken in the summer of 2005 when I was visiting him in Tulsa. We set the camera up on his tv stand and to this day it is one of our favorites.
After dating for almost a year, I moved to Tulsa and began working at FPC on April 17, 2006. Michael and I wanted to make sure that we could be together in the same place, every day, and still love each other. It was so nice to be able to see each other on a Wednesday--for an entire year we weren't able to do that. It didn't take us long to realize we'd made the right decision.
On Sunday, April 20, 2008 we celebrated our 6-month wedding anniversary. Everyone told us the first year was the "hardest" and we've just had a blast. We realize we've been very lucky so far and that there will be forks in the road that might not be so easy. But for now, we can safely say that getting married was the best decision of our lives, and we're so excited to see what will happen next.
It's neat for me to think about that first picture. I wonder what we were thinking when it was taken? Did we have any idea that that captured moment would end up on the front page of our wedding website, welcoming visitors to read our story and learn about the wedding weekend? I wonder if we knew that three years later we would be living together in a house in Jenks, or that we still occasionally set up the camera on a tv stand to take pictures of just the two of us. I often think "If I knew then what I know now..." but when that flash went off I already knew. I just didn't know at the time that October 20, 2007 would end up being so significant.
I always felt awkward saying "fiance" but I can't say "husband" enough. Life is good, and I am so blessed.
Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." -Colossians 3: 14-17 (Scripture read at our wedding...)
