Six Months. Almost.

Dear Ryan...

Sunday is supposed to be sunny and warm...just like a certain Sunday six months ago. We'll share morning coffee...maybe in the pirogi, with a view slightly different from the sun-kissed sand we stared at while drinking coffee that Sunday morning.

I'll get ready for church and walk past a familiar white dress hanging from the closet door, just like it was that day, but this Sunday it will keep hanging there, and I'll choose something else...slightly more comfortable...for the day.

Six months. And it feels like life has always been like this. {And I mean that in a very good way.} That we've always started our day studying the Bible and praying together...that you've always made my coffee and hidden a peanut butter and honey sammich inside a paper towel for me to eat during my commute. That the evening hasn't really started until you've walked through the door to have dinner with me before we launch into our chores for the night.

And yet I'm always aware of my spirit of gratitude that you chose me. That you work so hard to provide for us - even when it's inconvenient for you. That you scratch my back when I'm tired and you hold my hand during prayer. That you always say I love you before you hang up the phone and that you still want to talk to me during our commute, even though you just saw me...or are about to see me again.

I love the way you still plan dates for us and make it a priority to have a weekly date night - even in the most hectic of weeks. I love the way you understand the importance of the words Can you take a picture?...and you never complain when I pause life for a moment to capture it for a memory. I love the way you've given me the freedom to change our eating habits so I can be more successful in maintaining my weight loss. I love the way you know when I'm struggling with my weight and you take extra moments out to call me beautiful and look me in the eye so I know you mean it.

I love making up words with you {like betrothing and pirogi} and treating them as though they always meant what we say they mean. I love car karaoke to 500 Miles while using a water bottle for a microphone. I love Starbucks dates and evening walks and your gracious willingness to help me work out even though I'm a liability to your skill level. I love praying with you, all cuddled up in your arms, and I love it when you call in to Mid-Morning to shoot the breeze with me on the air. I love the way you Riverdance to the Rend Collective Experiment so I can get through the song and the way you do my silly hand dance along with me because it is the extent of my talent.

I love watching you talk to my parents and love knowing you've embraced them as more than MIL and FIL...but that they're your family too. And I love watching them consider you another son in their family. I love your big, big heart for service {oh, how much I have to learn from you on that one} - and how you'll drop EVERYTHING to take care of someone in need. And I love traversing the countryside with you while you do just that.

I love the songs you learn just to surprise me with a solo when I'm not expecting it. I love the roses - even when they die a day later because the company sent a bouquet that betrothed you. I love notes in my lunch box, a full gas tank, and the surprise Polar pops that sometimes show up with you after work. You spoil me.

Life with you is sweet. You make me laugh until I can't breathe, you hold me when I cry {sorry that's so often}, and you know my heart in ways no one else ever has. You give me permission to be me...and you challenge me to do more than I think I can.

And that's all in just the first six months.

Let's be Carl and Ellie. Let's live an adventure to the very end. I love you. So much.

~ AS ~