One Year
One year.
‘Together we can face any challenges as deep as the ocean and as high as the sky’ - Sonia Ghandi
One year ago today I went on my first date with a boy I met on an app. Blake doesn’t like admitting that we met online but I don’t mind - I would have fished through a million profiles to have found him. Before I even met Blake in person I knew he was different. We’d been talking for weeks via text, the phone, and even facetiming before we met. When we finally met face-to-face I felt immediately comfortable with him - something you rarely feel on a first date. We’ve been together ever since.
One year later and it’s hard to remember life before him. Every morning as I sit on my couch with coffee reading my bible I know I’ll get interrupted by his call on the way to work. Throughout the day I expect the little check-in’s and my weekends orbit around finally getting more than a few minutes together. It’s you for me, babe. Every time.
We are over halfway through our premarital class at church. They asked us when we first knew we loved the other. Blake said it was on the boat, in the Alafia, when he looked back to see a big smile on my face and realized making me happy made him the happiest he’s ever been. For me, it was the same boat ride but it was a little later in the day when a song I love came on the radio and I said: dance with me. Blake quickly stopped the boat and met me at the front where we slow danced to my song. That’s the moment I knew: I love him. Well, that’s the first time. There have been a million tiny moments that would seem insignificant to other people but have made my love stronger and stronger.
Every time I see Blake with my nieces and nephews. Watching him adopt my friends as his and love them well. The way after our first ‘fight’ he immediately came back to apologize and fix it. The Christmas & Valentines letters he wrote me. A million little moments on the boat having fun together. The way his hand always finds mine during prayers and worship. The hundreds of little encouragements, gifts, and thoughtful texts. This year has been the very best of my life because it’s been made up of a thousand little moments that have challenged, inspired, refined, and changed me for the better.
Blake, my love, thank you for the happiest year of my life. May we always put each other first. Let’s keep fighting to have the best relationship possible and to love each other well. I was happy before I found you but you have made every single thing in my life better with your presence. You are the ultimate teammate and together everything seems possible.
Thank you for believing in me. For encouraging me. For building me up and for helping me with big and little things. You are the greatest gift and I hope we get many, many more years together.
I love you.
