my little love story

Five years ago I married my soul mate. It was the same old story; girl gives up on love, meets boy of her dreams and falls madly in love. Our story has many ups and downs the first year of our relationship. But all of those things made us even stronger in the long run. They prepared us for the life we now have and taught me that my husband is more romantic then I ever gave him credit for.

Our first date was a ROTC dining out. It was formal and Jon was the organizer to boot. That meant he was basically in charge of the whole event and we had to sit at the head table, socialize with the guest speaker and his Colonel for the majority of the night. It was a tall order to fill for 2 people who hadn't been on a date together or even alone in the same room before. I won't lie, after he asked me to go with him, I was on a high the whole weekend just thinking about how it was about time we went on date. A year of friendship and flirting was finally paying off!

After months of dating, Jon got orders to DC. It was inevitable he was going to move, but I thought I would be in a place where I wanted to further our relationship. I surprised myself when I realized I wasn't ready to move anywhere and wasn't 100% sure I wanted to maintain a long distance relationship. Because Jon knew the long distance thing was unlikely to work without two fully committed people (he had his doubts too) and me moving was probably a little too soon in our relationship, we broke up. It was the WORST break up I've ever had. I spent days crying thinking that I'd lost the one thing in my life that made sense. Friends tried to reassure me I was making the right choices for myself, but I just couldn't see it.

The night before he left for DC, we talked and I found closure with him. It sounds strange, but when he walked out the door, I knew that I had made the right decision for myself. It doesn't mean it didn't break my heart to see him go, just that I knew it wasn't the right time for us.

Over the next 4 months fate kept intervening in our lives. Even though he was a thousand miles away, somehow fate managed to keep reminding us of each other. From a lost cell phone to our shared friendships it was hard to forget Jon.

That Christmas, my family decided to celebrate in Walt Disney World. Who should decide to meet me there Christmas Eve? Jon. The guy who people thought didn't have a romantic bone in his body drove from school in Alabama to meet me and ask me to move to Washington DC. This guy who I never imagined would feel the same love for me that I felt for him wanted to spend Christmas Eve with me and my family.

The moment I saw him, I knew I wasn't letting him go again. It felt right that we took the break from each other to see how real our feelings were even though that was never the intention. That first hug from him was all I needed to know my life would be forever changed.

I never saw myself as a military wife. I thought I would live in Minnesota forever. I would raise my kids and play with them in same lakes and parks I went to as kid. I didn't think I had the strength in me to move as often as we do or to raise a family without my family nearby. But because of our friendship and love, my husband has shown me that I have so much more in me then I ever imagined. My life is so full of love and happiness, that I can't imagine it any other way. Its obviously not the easiest life when it comes to separations or saying hello/goodbye to new friends every few years. But its our life...and to me that's what matters most.

So to my love, my heart, my everything...Happy Anniversary. Our love story just keeps getting better and better....