One Year

Yesterday made our one year of marriage. That’s crazy. We’ve packed so many things into this one year that it’s hard to decide whether I want to answer ‘it feels like much longer’ because it does – we’ve done SO much and learned so much and grown so much and have this great groove of where we want our life to head…or ‘that was quick’ because, seriously, how did we get here so fast. It was yesterday that we were dreaming about how our lives would be when we’re married and living in Europe, and – hey now, here we are! We still have many moments, like when I had to tell the plumber last week ‘hold on, let me ask my husband.’ wait..did I just say that – my husband. can I say that again?! And then the French plumber left before I could come to and I have no idea what he asked me in the first place, but at least our water isn’t leaking anymore and hopefully we won’t get another 400 euro bill. But, hey, we’ll just chalk it up to – learning how to live in a new country and we’re maaarrriiied.!

One of the best parts about marriage is hanging out with your bestie. Just hanging out. Like, on any given day, when there’s nothing going on and it’s a random Tuesday, you just look at each other and feel completely blessed that this is your life. He’s sitting right there….probably staring at you. And you pretend you’re embarrassed, but really, you’re overly flattered. It’s the little things, you know? (Well, and the big things too, like our anniversary trip to Tuscany that we’ll be posting later this week!)

We had such a relaxing day celebrating our year. We accidentally dressed like we were going to Sadie Hawkins, but we’re not going to lie and say that that is infrequent around these parts. I’ll be even more honest, J loves it more than me. Although, that cracks me up, so I’ve come to love it more, so maybe it’s tied now. Either way, we took to the streets, where Place Flagey was having a little fair at the market. After convincing me that it would probably not be appropriate for a twenty-something girl to do flips in those^ really cool water bubbles next to the kiddos, we strolled along the lakes and through Abbaye de la Cambre. 

Justin made shrimp bisque and my mouth is still watering. And we ate by candle light even though the sun is out til 10p and counting (summer, you’re gonna be great).

Then, we watched our wedding video. We laughed at how nervous we both looked and then J laughed some more at the fact that I cried through it, even though we’ve seen it a highly egotaaastical number of times. But, I mean, I can’t help it. When Deacon Tim starts on the part where he says ‘You’re job, for the next 80 years or so, is to love each other so completely, so totally that the rest of the world sees what you have and they desire it for themselves.’ I mean, whoa! If that isn’t the greatest job description ever.. I’m overwhelmed at how much I love my job and feel so blessed that I get to do this amazing thing with Justin. That was so sappy, I apologize.  But I’ve gotta humble it with, yes, we’ll call it a job. Because it is work. We have had a million and 17 things thrown at us in one short year and the days that we don’t work at it, it shows and we don’t connect and we can’t figure out why. But it’s because we thought that it would just come. This thing isn’t easy. Living your life around someone else is hard, but working at it is the only thing that will make us a stronger couple. And there’s nothing that makes me happier with our relationship today than our faith that it will be stronger and sweeter and shine brighter as we grow gray together. NOW. Now, I’m moving on..

So, then we watched The Princess Bride and went through almost an entire package of Belgian chocolate. Great day.

Oh, and over dinner and wine on a patio in Florence, the Mister made a quotable observation that I felt worthy of Texter.