This past New Year's eve, Bjorn and I celebrated the 11th year anniversary of our first "date." Though, depending on which of us you talk to, this so-called date could have been merely just two high school friends getting together for dinner to catch-up (my version)...or it was a date in which dinner was highly anticipated, followed by a spectacular display of fireworks in St. Paul, meeting up with high school friends afterwards and then the culmination of evening: a good night kiss (Bjorn's version).
Unfortunately, in Bjorn's version, the goodnight kiss never materialized: I had no clue it was a suppose to be a date. I was finally clued in when Valentine's Day rolled around and I received a beautiful bouquet of long stemmed red roses delivered to my dorm room in college (side note: If you ask my now-husband, he will tell that this purchase was what pushed him get his own credit card after asking his father to order the flowers on his behalf. The whole neighborhood might have heard about the cost of red roses on Valentine's Day!). I remember the excitement of receiving the roses (I had a gooey smile plastered to my face the rest of the day) and being the envy of my girlfriends and floor mates. It was then that we started our long distance relationship....and what a whirlwind it has been.
Eleven years, two babies (and one on the way), two deployments, three missed wedding anniversary celebrations, multiple cross-country moves (for his job), one bike fall (me: to point out dolphins in the water to Bjorn), one 7-mile death hike up a mountain (I was told that it was only 3 miles and very nearly horizontal...it was not. It was very nearly completely vertical) and a snow-shoeing death march (with five-week old Audriana) later, I am still passionately and deeply in love with this man. He still makes my heart flutter at the sight of him and I still laugh at almost all his jokes and commentaries (there are many!). His devotion to and patience with our children makes my heart swell with joy. The depths of his love for me and our life together makes me a better wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend to him, our children, our family and our friends. There are no limits to the things that we are able to accomplish together (including raising three kids under the age of three!). I know that the strength of our relationship is not only deeply bound together by love, but also by our sense of purpose and dedication to one another.
Our love is not accidental. It is very much intentional. I hope that all of you have someone in your life or will find someone in your life who makes you want to be a better person and fills your future with the unique love and passion that only lovers may find in one another. We are incredibly blessed with an adventurous life, beautiful children and most importantly, each other.
And it started all because two people fell in love ... Happy Valentine's Day!
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