Timeline: 9 year anniversary style

Last year it was the poem to me, from Nate but written by me. The Year before it was me getting sentimental and posting unflattering photos of myself. And well, this year it's our timeline. Just like my 5th grade teacher taught me how to do.

And it all starts August 21, 2000...

The day we met: I went to visit my Grandma, Nate was painting her deck. He had me at, "So, you visiting your grandma today?". I came home that day after a brief 15 minute conversation with a guy I just met and informed my Mom I met the man I'm going to marry.

1st Date: While sitting in the car listening to Rascal Flatts, I told Nate he would fall madly, deeply, hopelessly in love with me.

2nd Date: Nate leaned in close to me and whispered in my ear, "For lack of better way to ask, do mind if I hold your hand?". This phrase couldn't have been more true to Nate's character. He was (and is) a true gentleman. Needless to say, he held my hand and it felt perfect. So perfect that I never wanted him to let go.

3rd Date: I met Nate's family and all of his friends. His Mom had me at, "Would you like some cookies?". Nate and I held hands scandalously underneath the table. Later that night I told him, while playing an intense game of pick-up sticks in his living room, that I knew that he was "the one". I informed him that it would only be a matter of time before he realized that I was "the one" for him.

We kissed that night for the first time... multiple times. And it was electric. It was exciting. It was amazing. It was comfortable. It was PERFECT (and all of those other adjectives that describe pure awesomeness). The thought of interrupting that moment with a long car ride home was painful.

Somewhere in between 3 months of dating:

He met my family and decided that he still wanted to be with me.

He had me in awe with his perfection.

I fell in love for the first time.

The best part is he loved me back.

November 21, 2000: He got down on one knee out on my Grandma's porch where we had first met with Rascal Flatts playing in the background. He gently reached for my hand and with tears in his eyes (because he's sensitive like that) asked me if I would marry him. He had fallen madly, deeply, hopelessly in love with me. Truth is, I had fallen just as hard.

March 10, 2001: I made the anxious trip to the temple sitting in the back seat of my parents car. I was about to take one of the biggest steps of my life. All the nerves fled away as I saw Nate standing there waiting for me in the temple. He took my hand in his and we were married for not just time, but for all eternity... and that's a really long time. But if eternity had to be spent with just one person, he was the one I knew I wanted to spend it with. Nate is the anti-Ginnie. He's is everything I'm not. He is the better part of me, the non-sarcastic/non-crude, sensitive, vulnerable part of me.

9 years later:

Nate and I have experienced life together. We have 3 children with one on the way. We've spent some of the best years of our life in Philadelphia growing and learning together and making endless amounts of memories.

We continue to grow and learn as we start a new chapter in our life. The chapter where we're not in school, but in the real world with a real job full of other challenges that the "real world" brings. And so far it's been an exciting chapter.

I would be lying if I said our married life has been 9 years of bliss. Honestly, I don't think marriage is like that and I'm okay with that. Our marriage isn't perfect and neither are we, but the important part is that we love each other.

Nate says it best, "It's never awkward when we hug. It's like a puzzle, the pieces just fit perfectly together."

Happy Anniversary my dear!