The Love of my Life

You may have noticed that I'm blogging much later than normal today. Most of the day was spent preparing to leave for vacation and driving to Austin for the first leg of our vacation. This is the first chance I've gotten to sit down and blog. You may also notice that I blogged my Mother's Day post yesterday. That's because, as important as Mother's Day is, today is much more important for another reason. One year ago today, I promised my life and my future to my dear husband Matt.

Before meeting Matt, I wondered if I would ever be able to stay with one person for a full year, dating or married. Now that this year has passed, it feels so short and I wonder how I ever doubted I would make it a year once I'd found the right person.

Matt and I met on eHarmony--yes, really. I was always skeptical of people who told me they had met their true love via the Internet. It seemed like such an impersonal way to meet someone, a method of finding a semblance of true love for only the desperate. I signed up for eHarmony almost by accident (that's another story for another day) and found it interesting enough to stick with it, but the guys I "met" online were only acquaintance-quality at first. Then I read Matt's profile. I'm not sure even now what it was about the profile that sparked my interest, but it did. Within the matter of a couple of weeks we had progressed through eHarmony's steps of communication, personal e-mail, and talking on the phone. We met for the first time on New Year's Eve of 2004. By Valentine's Day of '05, we knew this was the real thing. We were certain enough to get engaged.

Just as we saw no need to drag out the dating phase of the relationship, we didn't waste any time getting hitched either. On this day one year ago, we got married at my parents' church in Dallas. It was a beautiful wedding with mostly family and close friends. One of my college friends even performed the ceremony. That was a day I will remember fondly for the rest of my life. I know many women, years after the wedding, can list the things about it that they would change if they could do it over; but I don't know that I would be able to name a single thing I would have done differently. It truly was the wedding of my dreams.

The most perfect part of it, though, was Matt. No matter how beautiful my dress was or how perfect the flowers, it would have been ugly if I didn't have the perfect man to share the day with. Every day since then has been just as beautiful. I feel so comfortable with him; he is my best friend. I never get tired of having him around and miss him terribly when he's at work or gone for any reason. I thank God daily for showing me what true love can feel like. I look forward to every day of the rest of my life that I get to spend with Matt.

I know that I may not feel this overwhelming emotion with each anniversary that passes, but this one seems more momentous than most. Although I knew when I said, "I do," one year ago that I was committing my life, I'm still surprised that I'm already celebrating my first anniversary. It has gone by so fast and has been so much easier than I'd heard marriage was. I can't wait to see what the second year has in store for us--and the third year, and the fourth...

Matt, I love you so much. I'm sorry I didn't get you more for our first anniversary, but I want you (and the entire blogworld) to know I still love you with all my heart. Happy anniversary!