Anniversaries

A year ago this week, I packed my bags, grabbed my one-way ticket to California and set out on my way to start my favorite adventure ever--MARRIAGE!

When we got engaged in December, we agreed we wanted an October wedding.  We were sitting in an empty restaurant and our centerpiece was a gold painted pine cone and we absolutely loved it.  It was so natural and reminded us of fall.  I don't know if Carson cared at all, but it immediately made me want an outdoor wedding in the fall.

At that point, we had been dating long distance for a full year.  So many things are blown out of proportion when your relationship is long distance.  It was getting to be a little exhausting.  I'm not sure when we decided, or how we decided, but we ultimately agreed that there was no way we wanted to wait another 10 months to be together.

So, we decided that I would pack up, join Carson in California, and we would start our lives sort of in secret so we could still celebrate with our friends and family in the fall at our perfect wedding.

Looking back, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

We were married in the San Francisco Courthouse on March 2 by the SPITTING image of Reverend Lovejoy from The Simpsons.  We were nervous and we were alone but it was one of the happiest moments of my life.  

Our closest friends knew and our immediate family knew.  It's not that we intentionally wanted to keep it from people, we just wanted everyone to still be as excited as we were to celebrate in October.  

Living in California away from all of our family and friends--our entire support group--has been very bittersweet.  We have learned to lean on each other for everything and I believe our relationship is so much stronger because of it.  On the other hand, it's so much harder making friends as adults.  Occasionally, I do wish we could be in Houston so we could be with our best friends that were there for us through college and high school and beyond, but we've made California our home now and we love it.  

Besides...if we lived Houston, we couldn't take a day trip to Los Angeles or drive to Las Vegas in a matter of hours.  We couldn't ski and surf in the same day (like that's ever happened...BUT IT COULD!).  And we couldn't see the mountains from our front yard.  There's not a thing I would change about where our paths have led us.

I'm so excited that everything in our lives have brought us to this moment and I can't wait to see what Year 2 has in store for us!

Happy (almost) Anniversary, Carson!!

In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.  Proverbs 16:9