Six years tomorrow, a certain boy and I began dating officially. You know, the way you’re dating after you have that SUPER awkward talk about where your relationship stands? Yea, that was 6 years ago tomorrow. And though it would be easy, I’m not going to write a huge post about all the ways that boy is wonderful (though he is) or how he completes me (he does), I just want to take you on a little tour of the past 6 years with that boy. With some really priceless pictures.

We met at a camp. On the first night of orientation, literally within 24 hours of meeting Slappy, I chipped my tibia, partially tore my achilles and ripped up a whole bunch of other stuff playing capture the flag and to my surprise, he, that silly boy in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shirt, was the camp EMT. After that night we began carpooling and one day he asked me if I wanted to go see Shrek 2, since all our campers had seen it. I had no idea it was a date until we were on our way home. And before long I found myself agreeing to another movie and then, on July 9th, in one of the most awkward conversations of all time, we made our dating official.

A year later, a year filled with fears and fun and graduation and med school applications, we celebrated our 1st anniversary at Disneyland, knowing that in less than 3 weeks, he’d be moving to New Orleans for medical school. I remember it being such a fun day, with a shadow of sadness. Which is not easy to see in the world’s worst self-portrait. But if you look closely, I’m pretty sure you can see my brain up my nose.

On July 24th, he moved to New Orleans. On August 30th, he came home after Katrina wiped away his school and much of the city I’d soon grow to know and love. He went to Houston in September and I didn’t see him until he finally came home for Christmas in December. We managed that year apart and in May, we packed up my apartment in California, stopped in Houston to get his stuff, and then moved into our house. It was terrifying and exhilarating. It was the beginning of the way our relationship would eventually be. Just us, no distances, no more moving. Just us. And really terrible humidity hair.

And while there we celebrated Mardi Gras

And medical school proms (where I swear I was wearing a dress, a really pretty one actually)

And where we planned a wedding. And then 2 years ago we flew to California, got married and began the rest of our lives together…in Hawaii. Okay fine, only the first 10 days were in Hawaii.

In that first year of marriage there were about a thousand ups and downs, but we fought hard, for each other and the tears and frustration were always worth it. And the love always won out. It was always stronger, always bigger than any argument, than any mistake.

In that first year, we celebrated major life accomplishments:

And we said goodbye to our fair city, to our home, to the place that gave us the distance from our pasts to let us grow into the people, the couple, that we are.

And we moved to California, nearer to our families, for jobs and school and though the milestones and accomplishments have been a little smaller so far, they’ve been celebrated too.

And most of all, now, after 6 years together, of learning each other, of understanding each other, of growing together and independently, I can say with great honesty, that I’ve never been happier than I am now. I’ve never felt more loved, more cared for, more special than I do now. I can’t begin to imagine what my life might be like if I hadn’t agreed to date that silly boy in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shirt. I can’t imagine if I had said no to the movie or if he hadn’t persisted despite my giving him no signals as the fact that I too, was totally smitten. I can’t imagine my life without his blue eyes, without his terrible sense of humor, without him. And I’m thankful every day that I don’t have to imagine.

And I’m almost as thankful that now, six years later, we’ve finally learned how to take self portraits. Kind of.

Maybe in 6 more years we’ll finally hire someone to capture some of these moments for us.

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