four

I've declared this song our anthem for this season in our lives. Navy life is hard, no?

Yesterday was our anniversary. Four years. And at the exact moment when, four years ago, I was at the end of an aisle promising to love and cherish, I was driving along the sea to pick him up. With our sweet baby boy in the backseat, we were going to get Daddy. He had unexpectedly come home early from an underway. Best anniversary gift ever.

I've been in awe lately at the amount of life that's been lived since that early spring day in Chapel Hill when I noticed him for the first time. Since that spring day a year later when I promised to be his wife. And since that spring day a year after that, when we made it official.

The next year, we spent that same spring day wondering if the Navy was an option for us. The year after that, we were apart - he was in Rhode Island for OCS. And the next year, we celebrated at dinner the night before he left again, this time for training in Connecticut. We didn't order wine because there was a fresh new life growing inside me.

And now here we are. This early spring day doesn't feel much like spring up here. Boxes are all around me in our first home, our boy is sleeping in the next room and Andrew is back at work, hoping for an early release before the weekend.

See what I mean about the life that we've lived? And have you noticed how this time of year brings major life events for us? Go big or go home, I guess.

The honest truth is that this whole life of ours is quite heartbreakingly beautiful. When, four years ago, I promised to follow him, I didn't have this in mind. These long hours and separations and solo-parenting. That's not what I thought I'd be following him into. But He is good. And so is Andrew. So good. He is the best person I know. And that's not just mushy-gushy, obligatory anniversary speak. He is the most amazing person I could even dream up, for a hundred different reasons. Following him is so easy and so worth it, because I know his head and heart are in the right place. I feel so blessed in that way.

So while, in a lot of ways, this is the hardest life I could have imagined for us, I think it might also be the happiest. Ironic, right? Because of that, I'll continue to follow that man around. And every day I'll be thankful for it.

Happy Anniversary, my sweet adventurer. Thanks for choosing me to be a part of it all.