This is a tribute to my husband. I try to find ways every single day to make sure he knows how much I love him! Life is short and precious. Time is something you can never get back. Treasure it. Treasure your relationships! Nourish them! Grow them! Don’t sweat the small things. In the big picture they don’t matter. In the scope of eternity – people are what matters! My husband is incredible in all he does to take care of his family and responsibilities. I love him to the core! He is my blessing and greatest gift from God. I’m truly blessed beyond measure.
It may only have been a year, which seems a smudge on the radar of what’s still to come, but I’m looking forward to the years ahead because I’ll have those years with Tommy by my side and in my heart! I only wish I could have found him sooner so I could love him longer!
In 12 days Tommy and I celebrate our first year of marriage! This morning in particular I’ve been reflecting on the incredible journey to get to today, the life God has called us to as a couple, and what our future looks like.
We were actually broke up when we eloped. I actually was not even talking to him when I decided I’d marry him. I had blocked him on my phone so he couldn’t call or text me. I wouldn’t respond to emails. I had un-friended him on Facebook. So for hours he sent me private messages through messenger. It started during the day on May 22nd; first with pictures of him fishing in our favorite mountain creek, then of his rainbow trout he had caught, then a nice picture of him kayaking. I knew he wanted to share it with me, but I wouldn’t respond. I ignored him. After all, I was mad and extremely justified in my personal opinion.
The messages continued throughout the day and escaladed into the afternoon and early evening. Actually, they were non-stop for almost five hours towards the end. I’ll never forget standing in a Target store looking at frozen pizzas, trying to decide which one I was going to splurge on. After picking out my pizza I was going to go and get me an Oreo Cream Pie and go home and gorge myself. That was my Friday night plan. (A pretty awesome plan I think) I certainly had not woken up that morning with any intentions of eloping that night. Tommy and I had dated for 20 months (with several break-ups during that time). My heart was crushed and I wanted to be a vegetable. However, standing in front of that massive selection of frozen pizzas at my local Target, I decided to take a leap of faith and breathe again – and I’m so incredibly glad I did. That very next day I married my best friend in the Great Smoky Mountains where we absolutely love to spend time together. It’s our favorite get-a-way place. We love the fishing and kayaking, the swimming and biking, the nature trails and scenic views, sitting around the campfire, and disconnecting from the rat-race that life so often is. Now it has forever been imprinted on my heart because it’s the place I said “I-DO” to my best friend while fighting back the tears; tears of joy of course.
We didn’t wear fancy clothes. I didn’t have anything remotely dressy to wear. Tommy wore Khakis and a button up shirt. I wore sandals, a white cotton sundress and peach cardigan wrap over it, but I would have married him in blue jeans on the creek bank. It didn’t matter what we were wearing in my opinion. What mattered was that I knew from the beginning God created Tommy for me to love and God created me for Tommy to love.
I can’t believe how the time has flown. You know that feeling you get on New Year’s Eve? “I can’t believe a whole year has gone by-So fast-Again!” and then you start to wonder what you’ve achieved in the past year… That’s kind of what it feels like as our first wedding anniversary approaches.
A whole year has gone by! I can’t even begin to believe it! Except there is so much we have done, learned, experienced and achieved. There is so much that we have overcome. So many tears cried, so much laughter and joy, and so much peace and assurance found in each other’s arms. This is how life is supposed to be. I know that no matter what life throws my way – it’s throwing it Tommy’s way too – because we are a team. My team-mate is always there for me, fighting with me and for me, cheering me on, winning with me, celebrating with me, learning with me, training in the trenches with me, serving with me – I’m so grateful, privileged, honored, and overjoyed that I get to DO LIFE with my best friend – What joy he has brought to my life! Life isn’t perfect. We are deceived if we think it is. No one person is going to meet our every need and expectation – that’s unrealistic – and that’s God’s job! No person is perfect. Tommy and I both are filled with imperfections, but perhaps that is what makes us so perfect for each other. True love is two imperfect people perfectly loving each other! Tommy makes my heart smile in ways only he was created and designed to do.
What I love more and more about relationships is that you just never stop learning about each other (which makes sense if you think how much people grow and learn about themselves as each day goes by). This year we have gone through some of the toughest times. There were fights, there were arguments, and plenty of stresses; but they were all learning curves and we’re so lucky that things that could have drawn us apart have only brought us closer together. That in retrospect seems like a great accomplishment in and of itself.
An element of it really is being married to your best friend, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. When you wake up together, want to share the latest/greatest/most important news with one another (which to others may or may not be great or important at all), be the first to tell them a secret, tell them your deepest darkest fears (or slightest concerns). They’re the person who’ll love you (and you them) forever no-matter how silly you dress, fat or wrinkly you might get (one day), emotional you are, they won’t judge you, they laugh when you talk in your sleep, they won’t get mad if you forget to wash your plate or pass gas in the middle of the night…. They’re the single most important person to you, you make each other better people, and their happiness is always your happiness. With God as the foundation and cornerstone – all things are possible!
thislifemylife 