Two Blessed Years

Today Ben and I celebrate two wonderful years together as husband and wife. Two years ago today was a magical, fairytale of a day and one that we look back on with joy and laughter. The past two years have brought many changes. We both left jobs where we spent the majority of our time after college and moved from our safe little town of Athens, GA to a quite unknown place called New Tazewell, TN. We have loved, supported, and sometimes pushed one another to be brave and to follow our dreams. Ben has begun to fulfill his dream of being a doctor and serving in the military. I'm scheduled to take the GRE in August so I can begin applying to grad schools (why do I keep torturing myself with these standarized tests?). We've realized that in marriage the other person's dreams become your dreams as well, and you triumph in their successes and mourn with them in their defeats. Every wonderful moment in your life is better when you have a partner to share it with, and every sad moment is made easier when you have someone to take some of the load. We both agree that marriage is the hardest and best thing we've ever done. It has its obstacles, but it makes day to day life so much FUN! What could be better than sharing a life with your best friend?

On this day we want to thank you, our friends and family, for all you've done to support us these past two years. Your advice and wisdom have meant the world to us. We know in order to have a successful marriage you have to have a wonderful support system, and we certainly have that in all of you. My mother has been a great source of marital advice. The first few months when I would call her to complain how messy Ben was, she would promptly tell me that I knew he was messy when I married him and that I never should have expected that to change. She also told me that if that was the worst thing about my husband, I should count my blessings and let it go. Mom is very good at keeping things in perspective. If I ever had illusions that I could call her during an argument and ask her to take my side, believe me, those have been shattered. Usually she feels I'm being slightly dramatic (really? me?) and nicely tells me to get over myself. In all seriousness, our parents have helped us learn how to let those little things go and see how good we really have it. My fellow newlywed girlfriends Libby and Elizabeth and I have had numerous conversations about adventures in marriage; and I don't know what I would do without their counsel, advice, and humor! It's nice to have someone to share the experience with!

One thing that Ben and I did not expect was how we would keep falling deeper and deeper in love everyday. What a wonderful surprise that love does not stand still but grows and grows. It gives us so much to look forward to! We're just getting started! We wish everyone was as happy as we are!

I know this has been a long blog, but I suppose this is my way of celebrating the day. It's been four weeks today since Ben left for Officer Training and the only contact we've had today was a text message he sent me at 4:56 a.m. telling me Happy Anniversary. Please pray that I'll get to see him when I get to Montgomery tomorrow night and not have to wait until Thursday. I know it's only one extra day, but right now that feels like an eternity.

Love to you all!

P.S. And to answer the pressing question, no, there are still no children planned for the near future. We're giving ourselves another few years. We have so much fun with just the two of us, we're not sure we want to add in another person quite yet!

P.P.S I'm sure all of you are wearing pink today in honor of our anniversary and our pink wedding, right??