Anniversary

 Here I am double posting because last night, I was treated like a princess and it needs to be documented. On October 25th, 2024, Cristian and I had our first phone conversation. A month later, on November 25th, 2024, we decided to start being in a relationship. So guess what, yesterday was the YEAR mark of that. Our anniversary of dating! 

Our relationship was long distance with only three separate weeks together over 10 months. I wouldn’t want to do that again (obviously!), but it has been so good. I think it was just what we needed with both of our situations. We grew and learned and prioritized each other, and now that we’re here in person, we appreciate each other even more. 

These past two months have been so great for us to be in each other’s lives for real. A part me was scared to come here and see him every day because I didn’t want the shine and the joy to wear off. Well it hasn’t! In fact, I’ve become even more secure and happy. He is so good, and seeing him up close only has only confirmed that. 

Our lives and our relationship are not a fairy tale. It’s just a lot of normal things. It’s a simple homemade meal in an apartment. It’s cleaning up together after a church activity. It’s catching the same bus and sitting together. It’s visiting each other after a long, tiring day of work. It’s calling each other half asleep for a quick nightly prayer. It’s joking around and being obnoxious. It’s saying goodbye because someone really needs a nap. It’s planning our next temple trip. It’s calling our friends because it’s Friday night and we want to do something. It’s destroying our friends at foosball because we are an unstoppable pair. It’s kisses out of on street because we’re not worried who sees. It’s another “hope your day is going well. I love you so much” text. It’s the feeling of being yourself with another person. 

It’s normal things, but doing them together turns them into special things, or at the very least, normal things with a special person. 

Last night, Cristian showed up to my house looking incredibly handsome holding a huge, gorgeous bouquet of flowers! He took me to this gorgeous sushi restaurant. I also got him a little capybara night light (un-pictured) because he loves capybaras lol. We had told me to dress up nice and I felt like we looked so classy. The robot brought us lots of amazing sushi, and it was the perfect night. Hooray for a happy year with a wonderful cutie! 

Life doesn’t end at the hardest point. The rock bottom of our lives is a springboard, springing us, albeit very slowly, back up. Often to even higher than we were before. Sometimes it’s not that simple. We might start falling again before we ever get very high. We might hit that low, rocky ground and then just stay there, dragging ourselves along, bruised and desperately wishing to be anywhere else. But sooner or later, we always move on. We always move up. 

I’ve been flung up and down and far and wide. I’ve also climbed and jumped and carried on of my own free will. I’m by no means at the end of my journey. (I mean obviously. I’m 29, not 99.) I don’t know what tomorrow holds. But I have a good idea. And when it inevitably turns out a little different, or a lot different, than I planned, I will be grateful for the Lord’s ever-present guidance, my own springboard-y resilience, and my knowledge that the future is always, always ultimately so bright. 

But in this moment, I feel very loved, very safe, and very grateful. And I think that is a miracle worth celebrating.