I am a little afraid to write this post because this story didn’t make everyone happy. Let me tell you though, it made me SO happy.

Before I met my now husband I had been in a few on again off again relationships. I kept going back because it was comfortable. Looking back I did make some great friends and have wonderful memories, but I was not happy. You live and you learn. I don’t think I would do it differently if I had to do it all over. All those experiences made me who I am today.

Then I met this man. He was 100% different than I had ever imagined my ‘future husband’ to be. He was tall, lanky, and a little goofy. He showed up on our first date wearing mixed matched socks (ps he still won’t match his socks). It happened so suddenly, right when I wasn’t looking.

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This man drove an hour almost daily to come see me. Sometimes he made those drives after a 24 hour shift. He took me out to dinner, made me laugh, and made me step out of my comfort zone. Most importantly, he showed me that I was important. He NEVER ignored my texts or said I wasn’t invited. He always wanted me to tag along (and still does).

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I took him to meet my family and I met his. We got matching tattoos (which normally I wouldn’t recommend, but hey it worked out right?!). Then, he left for deployment. That year was the hardest year of my life. I had only known him 2 months before he left, but being without him was like missing part of me. There were lots of sleepless nights. Lots of early mornings just to send a few texts back and forth. There were happy days and some days I just cried. Everyone knows deployments are hard, yet you never really understand that reality until you go through it.

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Six months passed, very slowly I might add, and my honey got to come home on leave. He asked me to marry him (I obviously said YES!!). This is the part that gets sticky. We knew for a while we would get married. We also knew we did not want to have a wedding. Some people were so very excited for us, some were not.

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It still was the happiest day of my life. Those two weeks of leave went by so fast. Then, he had to go back overseas. Another six months of face times and scheduling around time differences. The time we spent apart somehow made us stronger together. We learned so much about each other and about our relationship during this time. Not only were we married, but we became best friends too!

A few days after he returned, we packed up our whole lives to move to Orlando, Fl. PCSing is stressful, but we made it. We lived in a small over priced apartment with two dogs for several months. No personal space. NONE. Today, we are proud home owners and SO excited to see where the Army will take us next.

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This is a long story, but here is the point I want you to get. NEVER settle for anything less than amazing. NEVER sell yourself short. NEVER tell yourself you can’t, because guess what? You can! It may make you uncomfortable or scared and that’s okay. As Will Smith said:

“The best things in life are on the other side of terror, on the other side of your maximum fear, are all of the best things in life.”

So go chase your dreams and follow what makes you happy (even if it’s a military man that you get to marry in a conference room).