1st Year Anniversary

It was mine and Mark's one year wedding anniversary this weekend and honestly it had me feeling a little nostalgic. I kept finding myself thinking back to when we not only got married, or when Mark proposed, but all the way back to when we first started dating. All those memories from when we were first getting to know each other just kept flooding my mind. Mark isn't much of a romantic guy, but I definitely have a few particular memories that for some reason always stick with me. They aren't anything really significant, but just moments in time, where when I look back, those were moments where I really knew this is where I wanted to be, and who I wanted to be there with.

1. Holding hands. We had held hands before walking at White Rock Beach on one of our first dates, but there was a night shortly after that, where Mark and I were just sitting on the couch watching a movie after everyone went to bed (when he still lived at his parents house). We just sat there, side by side, hardly even "snuggled in", but just holding hands. The entire movie long he held my hand. Something so simple, but so sweet. Most guys would have quickly tried to move in for the arm around the shoulder or whatever, but Mark just sat there, completely satisfied with just holding and rubbing my hand.

2. The first time Mark called me beautiful.  Mark invited me to play card games at a friends house and when I showed up, the moment I got out of my car he told me I looked beautiful. He didn't just say "you look nice" or "your hair looks pretty" (I had curled it that day), but he just looked me in the eye and called me beautiful. In that moment, there was so much honesty in his eyes, I didn't doubt him for a second.

3. The first time he told me he loved me. We had just driven back from spending a summer day at Cultus Lake in Chilliwack, B.C. and we went to my parents' house for my sister, Christina's, birthday party bbq. After we mingled with everyone for a while, we went up to my room (I was still living at home at the time), and we just layed in my bed (don't worry, on top of the covers), exhausted from the sun at the lake, and he just looked at me and said: "Okay, this is it, I'm in. I love you, Lindsay." True to his form, so blatant and so direct, but I loved every word of it.

(Cultus Lake, May 2009)

I can guarantee you Mark probably only has a vague recollection of these moments, if at all, but I know that it's not because they don't matter, or weren't significant to him, it's just his personality. He holds on to different memories that are captivating in his own mind.

We have been together for about five and a half, almost six years now, and we are both definitely not the same people as we were when we started out. I think the best thing about our relationship and our marriage, is that we both started out as such opposites, and we still are total opposites, but now just in different ways. Because of that, we both are always willing to give the other person room to grow into who they need to be in order to be successful in the next part of our life (whether that be the next day, week, month, year, etc.). We constantly challenge each other, but we also constantly follow blindly behind each other. We have such a mix of traits that every day really does seem like something new.  

This first year of marriage has been a whirl wind. We got married very quickly after getting engaged, and then it was Christmas time right after, than a couple months later we got our puppy which was a whole new experience of puppy parenting. Then, work got super busy for both of us in summer/early fall, and now I'm in a new position doing nights so our schedules are totally wonky. We never did a honeymoon or anything after our wedding, so this weekend we headed to Tofino, B.C. on Vancouver Island for a small little get-away in order to celebrate our 1 year anniversary and just take some time for ourselves and to reconnect. We sat around in the hot tub, cozied up by the fire, played board games, and card games, and just did what we do best, enjoyed each others' company.

Well, I am literally about to fall asleep while typing so I will be heading off to bed pretty quick! I will have another post soon with all my photos and details from our trip!

Take care,

-Linds