Our Relationship Story

photo by kortni at kortnimaria.com

Before it was us it was we. It was the two of us. You and I.

Our unique fairytale, constructed in the upstairs community space of an old brick building. “Common ground” was the turf our hearts connected. 

I was seventeen and so were you. Tightly wrapped in skinny jeans and sheltered in our favorite band T-shirt’s. My shoes were checkered and yours were chunky Etnie sneakers. I still remember that part. We had good style and an even better taste in the music scene.

You looked my way, but you didn’t know I already had looked yours. You liked my shoes and I liked your hair. The compliment sang from your lips as I studied your appearance. Short and cute meets lengthy and lion-esque. Everyone knew the mane on my head carried it’s own roar. 

Our common ground was the perfect opportunity. A treasure of mutual friends brought us to this place of our very own friendship. The kind of bond that only grew with time.

You asked me for my email address and I’ll forever cherish how unique that makes our story. You didn’t have a phone so you’d email me at school. Multiple times a day. The messages you’d send were as kind as could be. They always made me smile and certainly miss you since we lived in two different towns. The good news is, the plot twist of distance in our story, well that never won.

We would talk for months until that early morning. The one where you would ask me to be your girlfriend. The day you still chuckle about now, confessing how you had to ask me out before anyone else could. You were brave, bold, and knew how to put a smile on my face. Not much has changed.

We would date for five years before the next question popped. Those sixty months challenging every area of our relationship. We fought, but we still do. We battled hardships, but we always will. We faced turmoil, setbacks, and brokenness. We did all of this through some of the most growing and challenging years of our lives. And that’s how I knew. We didn’t give up and we never give in. Together was our favorite place to be. I’d like to say it certainly still is.

The world doesn’t need to know all the details. We won’t replay those challenges publicly today, but what we get to do is far better. We give glory to the One who brought us through. These challenges were flooded with grace, mercy, and unconditional love after we encountered Jesus in 2012. We learned to forgive. We acquired deeper understanding of real love. We got to start our journey of faith arm in arm and heart to heart.

In June of 2016, we said I do. We planned the best day ever and than took even better days off during our honeymoon to the Bahamas. Still some of my favorite memories.

For the next two years, we figured life out, we got new jobs, we set cozily into our first apartment, and ventured out into the world with wonder. Expectancy of the future and contentment of the now. We knew that loving our life would start and end with each other. We acquired the wisdom that would constantly remind us how we were far better together.

Fast forward to 2018, we have a newborn and our little family has grown. You and I always knew we wanted a big crew, even when we didn’t know what we were doing. We discovered it along the way, making the best team.

The upgrade to parenthood refined our marriage. We asked for this season and prayed for it, but forgot to prepare for the newness it would bring to our relationship. 

Re-shaping, re-forming, and transitioning the life we knew. You and I could do that. You and I did that. Sometimes it was date nights at home or texting all day when it’s hard to get a conversation in with our talkative first born. This grit helped us, even though it was different than anything we knew.

Plunging into our new titles as mom and dad, we fought death right in the face with some of the most valuable people in our lives. You held me and I upheld you. Let’s be honest though, God carried us both.

Just two years later, you’d find us with another little and now there’s four of us. Surely our hands full, but our hearts, those are fuller. Rarely getting out. Endless amounts of laundry. Even littler pockets of time to invest into our relationship, yet here we are. We’re doing it. We’re thriving. We’re making mistakes, showering grace, facing tough circumstances, and still leaning into every kiss with excitement like we’re still teenagers. As if.

That’s my favorite part of our story. The ever changing seasons of our life and the continues of our own personal growth haven’t changed us. I actually love you more than the first day and I really do love you even more than our wedding day. Just as we grow, so does our love. Day after day, year after year.

  What was, still is. 

We. It is. You and I. 

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