People always ask about my love story.  I wish I could romanticize it like the movies, take you through a journey of our love and the initial tension and hardships we had to go through to finally be together- but the truth is, Dallas and I met at the gym, we hung out, and never looked back.  I’ve had a great life, but not the easiest.  Like everyone- there has been hardships and difficulty, but I can honestly say that my marriage has been the greatest joy and peace in my life.

Today we are celebrating our 4 year anniversary.  I know I’m still a baby in the whole marriage thing, but I think Dallas and I are doing a pretty good job of it.  Throughout our marriage, Dallas has been studying and taking courses for his CPA exam, and I have worked on my business; we’ve failed and succeeded, we have lost multiple pregnancies, but throughout all the difficulty and stress in our marriage, being together has always been the calm within the storm.  It has always been a safe space, and the most valuable thing in my life.

There are a few practices in our marriage that I believe are foundational to why our marriage is rich in love, respect, and joy.

1. We try not to raise our voices at each other.  This one was quite challenging for me at the beginning of our relationship, since I am a passionate person It is so easy to develop bad habits in a relationship, and yelling can definitely be one of them.  In the future, we don’t want to fight or yell in front of our kids, so we just decided to be extreme and to not do it at all.  Don’t get me wrong, we can bicker and have disagreements, we just always want to make sure that we are communicating respectfully and out of love, like we would do to a friend.
2. We are constantly communicating.   I’m not going to lie, the past 4 years have been challenging.  It is rare for Dallas and I to have a night together during the week, since he has been studying and I typically work late.  That is why we make sure to communicate well, ask each other lots of questions, and constantly affirm one another.
3. We are intentional about quality time.  Quality time is one of my love languages, so when we aren’t spending time together it is easy for me to feel distant.  That is why we always make sure to plan one date night a week where we know it will just be the two of us.  In the beginning of our marriage we would watch movies for our date nights, and that was not working for me.  I needed quality time, which means talking, touching and doing some sort of activity.
4. We are each other’s biggest cheerleaders.  Lets be real, life can be tough.  Work can be stressful, starting your career and building a business is not easy.  We always make sure to encourage one another and be each other’s biggest support.  I know that I could not do what I’m doing without Dallas’ constant encouragement.
5. We are best friends.  Being best friends with someone is something you constantly need to work at.  You need to pursue each other, have fun together, treat each other with respect, and be there for each other through thick and thin.

My marriage and relationship with Dallas is the biggest blessing in my life.  I could not imagine a more perfect man to be my partner for life.  Here’s to many more years!