Friday, August 3, 2012

Happy Anniversary

Sunday, Ryan and I will have been married for six years. SIX years. It seems so long ago that I met him, but yet not really. So much has changed since we met. It seems as though it was just yesterday that I was moving into an apartment with two guys in Lawrence and wondering what in the hell I might have gotten myself into.
To be honest, when I moved in with Ryan I barely knew him. I just knew I needed somebody to live with. Living with guys made me feel a little safer and the thought of not having to deal with stupid girl drama sounded FANTASTIC! It didn't take long for the two homebodies (Ryan and I) of our place to become fast friends. Spending nearly every weekend together we developed a relationship that I would've thought was a brother/sister type of bond. Never would I have thought we would end up married. Afterall, I had my own (crappy) relationship, and well, so did he. Not to mention the fact that he was the complete opposite of what I thought I wanted to marry! Little did I know a few short months later one night would change everything!
To say I knew the change in our relationship was coming would be a complete lie. I had no idea. It was the end of the school year, and although we spent all of our time together, I knew things were about to change. It was late spring and Ryan was just finishing his senior year (I was a year behind him in school) and was applying for grad schools. I was struggling to finish school at KU and packing my bags to head to yet another summer working at church camp. It wasn't until one evening when Ryan mentioned wanting to come and work at camp with me that I thought something just might be up (Afterall, he had spent previous summers interning as an accountant. Camp Chippewa wasnt exactly that, nor did it pay anywhere near what he could've been making =0) ) However, being in denial of my emotions, I kept telling myself that wasn't the case.
It wasn't until we both landed jobs at camp and were unable to spend much of anytime together before I realized I loved that man!
I can remember watching him do various things at camp that summer and wishing I could talk to him. Any chance we got, we would talk.  We would arrange for my campers to get together with his campers for evening cook-outs, smores, swimming, etc. just so we could be together. Come Friday, we would spend the entire weekend together and then come Sunday head back to camp and do it all over again.
It didnt take long for this to continue on before we both realized what was going on. Ryan was the brave man to bust the norm of our relationship as friends and I can remember thinking, wait, what about your OTHER girlfriend? I can also remember totally NOT wanting to date him because he was SO not what I thought I wanted to marry, but more than anything because I couldn't bear the thought of dating him, having something go wrong and then losing such a great friend. Despite all of my doubts and fears I nervously agreed to continue our relationship.
It probably took us dating six months before I overcame the fear that I was going to lose one of my best friends. Looking back now, those fears were probably irrational. Just like when we were "just friends" we were inseperable. I had no doubt that as much as this guy was the complete opposite of me, or what I had always envisioned marrying, he was the one I loved and couldn't imagine spending my time with anybody else.
We spent two years "dating" before we became engaged. Spent another year engaged and then got married on August 5th, 2006. The day was perfect, and at the time, was definitely the happiest day of my life. To marry my best friend was the best feeling in the world and I knew without a doubt we were going to have a fun ride on this thing called life together.
We spent a little over a year married before we found out we were expecting our first baby girl. Set to be due ON our anniversary, Nora held on a few days later and made her arrival on August 8th instead. A quick two years passed and we welcomed yet another BIG bundle of joy, Reese Kathleen.  Though the past ten years together seem a blur and at times have been a little bumpy, I know deep down I couldn't ask for a more loving, providing, caring, husband OR daddy. God has truly blessed the girls and I with a wonderful man and we wouldn't trade him for anything!
Happy Annivesary Ryan. I hope to spend many, many more happy, healthy years with you (and if were lucky get you a boy or two ;0) !

1 Comments:

Blogger Tj and Chelse said...

I didn't know any of this! So cute. Thanks for sharing!

August 3, 2012 at 7:56 AM  

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