10 Years and We're Still Here

10 years ago yesterday, Brian and I were married at a small church in Easley and 10 years ago this morning we were on our way to Sandals St. Lucia. 2 kids and 5 houses later, here we are, still together. A little heavier, a little less energetic and a lot crazier- we've made it this far. The top pic is of us leaving the church to go to our reception right after our wedding. The one below it is of us at St. Lucia on our honeymoon. That just seems like it was only a few years ago. We had said we would go back to St. Lucia on our 10 year anniversary. At the time, we didn't know we would be building a house and running after 2 kids and managing a busy pediatric office. Our life together has been wonderful and blessed. (Ups and downs, sure- but overall GREAT.) When I met Brian I had just gotten out of a 4-year relationship in which I had broken a great guy's heart when I just realized he wasn't the "one". I had vowed I was just going to stay single with my cat and live the good life without a care in the world. I threw myself into work and was working about 70-80 hours a week at the hospital and loving it. That explains why the only place I could possibly meet anyone was at the hospital! I had a policy that I didn't date doctors. I knew too much. Knew most of them cheated on their wives or had a "God" complex- neither of which I was going to tolerate. But I saw Brian come around that corner one morning and thought 'Wow, he is really cute!' Then I started talking to him and found him to be a very down to earth, gentlemanly and soft spoken guy. He eventually asked me out and even though our 2 work schedules only allowed us to go out about once a week or even once every 2 weeks, we hit it off. After about 2 months my committment phobia kicked in and I decided I was going to break up with him. The thought of a serious relationship terrified me and I wasn't going to let myself get caught up in anything. I got my speech together and waited for him to come pick me up for our date. He got there late (out of character for him) and was stressed when he came in my apartment. He had a handful of roses for me from his own rose garden and explained that he had gotten a $200 speeding ticket on the way to come and get me and apologized for being late. Well, I couldn't break up with him after he had just gotten a ticket to come to my house, so I decided to wait.... and the break up never happened. He asked me to marry him after we had dated for 9 months. It took me by complete surprise- we had not even talked about marriage! I thought he was going to ask me to buy him this dog that he had been wanting. I didn't even know if I had said yes or no until he started hugging me and I figured I must have said yes. ;0) The rest is history. We are complete polar opposites and he often gets on my last nerve, but I love him and after 10 years together I truly feel like he is the other half of me. He knows me like no-one else and he loves me anyway. He still worships the ground I walk on and he thinks I am drop dead gorgeous. So, we may be looking into getting him examined for cataracts, but other than that, we're good. I told a friend of mine that there was no feeling like knowing someone was going to be there for you through anything, no matter what. And I know that he will. We made it through a rough couple of years during year 7 and 8- I think it was a turning point for us and we made the choice to work hard and make it better and we did. Now I just cannot believe everything that God has helped us to accomplish together. This past 10 years has gone by really fast and time just seems to get faster by the year. Can't wait to see what the next 10 holds for us!