1825 Days of Bliss

Okay, well, maybe not non-stop bliss. And, since I'm a couple of days late on this, it's really been 1827 days at this point. In any case, it's been 5 years since we were married.

Justin and I met in 1999, I was 18, almost 19, and he was 19. We got serious really fast, and within a couple of months Justin had moved in with me and my friend Sati. Within a couple more months Justin and I talked about getting married. No, we didn't tell anyone - we weren't crazy! We knew that people would think we were if we admitted that we might think we'd found someone we could be happy with forever.

In October 2001, Justin and I took a trip down to Arizona. We stayed with his family, then took off to Sedona to stay in a beautiful hotel and see the Grand Canyon. While we were there, we ventured to the woods, and sat near a small stream. The details of our engagement are still blurry to me - I was just so in the moment that I can't remember what exactly Justin said as he presented the beautiful ring to me. In the rest of the pictures from the trip, you can see my fingers curled because I was a little paranoid that I might lose it! When I called my Mom to tell her, she didn't lie - she told me she thought I was too young. She told me that if I waited until I was 25 to get married, she'd pay for it. I understood, I know that young marriages don't always work out. But I already knew that mine would.

We had a long engagement. I was in school and knew it would be too much for me to plan a wedding while I was still at UW. We chose a date, and by the time we got married, we'd been together for 3.5 years.

On July 12, 2003 I woke up after a night of fitful sleep to find the sleeping pill my mom had given me the night before still on top of the dresser, which explained why I hadn't slept so well! The next time I saw Justin he was wearing a tuxedo and standing on the stage in the theater where we got married. We wrote the ceremony ourselves, and it was performed by Justin's older brother. We wrote our own vows and chose other readings. We cobbled the ceremony together from various traditions and pieces that we liked from different weddings we'd attended or heard about. It was perfect. We honeymooned in Hawaii, swam, went horseback riding, and got tattoos. We didn't talk to anyone else for a whole week.

In May 2006, Justin stood by my side as I gave birth to our son. We were overjoyed, it had taken us 2 years to get pregnant and I knew what a wonderful father Justin would be.

On July 12, 2008 we celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary. Five years that have gone by so quickly, slow at times, but flying by our eyes. Despite any hard times, I don't doubt. Since the day we were married, I've never had a doubt that this was it. When I think about growing old, about the next five years, about the next 10 or 20 years, I am filled with wonder. Next year we'll celebrate being together for 10 years. That's 1/3 of our lives spent together, which is amazing to me. I've seen marriages fall apart, and I feel lucky to have found someone with the same philosophy as I do. Divorce is not an option, we know that we'll be able to work through anything that might come up.

Justin is amazing. He is smart. He does things with computers that I can't even comprehend, but has a gift for explaining them to me in a way I can understand. He roughhouses with Sam and pulls delicious two year old peals of laughter from within that crazy little body. When I set a goal, he supports me, even when I'm annoyed about it because I want him to help, but it would be easier if I didn't have to change. He doesn't always understand me, but he gives me the space I need. And I love him. I love him so much that I can't put it into words, that deep love that you feel for your husband or your child where if you think about it too much it will overwhelm you, cover you and suffocate you until sobs fill your lungs. He is a part of me, and always will be. Here's to five more years, and five more, and five more after that. Here's to a lifetime of five years strung together until forever.