Adrian and I are celebrating our 8th Wedding Anniversary today. Gosh! Eight years married, 11 years together! Just w-o-w!
Adrian is my best friend, twin flame, and next to (or equally with our daughter) is my most favorite person in the whole world! He is THE ONE God blessed me with. It’s just crazy to think how time has flown by and how I can’t remember my younger years without Adrian in it. I guess I just really want to remember life and all of the memories with Adrian (insert our daughter) in it.
I could share our whole journey and this post may not be the most beneficial or informative as a blog post, but I want to take up a space in my tiny little corner on the web to let the whole world know how blessed I am! And this is something my daughter will eventually read (maybe as soon as I post it) and be proud of. Plus, it doubles as a little wedding anniversary gift!
I am not by any means living a perfect life. I may not have everything I want but I have everything I need. Nevertheless, I love my life and I love my family and the relationships I have with my husband and daughter. Those are the real things I treasure so much!
The past eight years have been the most wonderful years of my life! And I’m looking forward to the next eight, eighteen, and eighty! Cheers to a happy, blessed wedding anniversary!
Conversely, I was asked just last week how I have a seemingly perfect marriage. And how do I keep the love burning and how do I keep my man to love me. That got me off guard. And took me a long minute to respond.
My marriage with Adrian is not perfect, that’s for sure. We have a lot of ups and downs. We sometimes argue and disagree on things. We had a lot of things we worked on especially on our first two years of marriage. We started as a long-distance-relationship couple. But the common denominators are open communication, trust, and respect more than love. And as we continue celebrating wedding anniversary or anniversaries, the love that we have just grows even more.
How to sustain a relationship?
People say love fades. I say, it’s all up to the both of you. It is a C-H-O-I-C-E! It is how and why you choose him. It’s choosing him every single day that makes up a week, a year, a decade… a lifetime. It’s finding more reasons to choose him over and over again.
And living a military life and having to experience deployments, underways, constant PCS and relocations, it just adds more pressure and challenges to the relationship. But working on it together changes everything! It has to be a partnership. It’s knowing full well that when you sleep at night, you are at peace that the other person has your back and loves you unconditionally.
Marriage is hard work. It’s the choices and decisions you make every single day. It is being transparent, weak, and exposing your flaws to the one you love the most. It’s a dynamic where you’re at your strongest but most vulnerable at the same time.
And it’s a long journey. For me, I still can’t say we have a successful marriage even though our friends and families see it that way. When we’re 80, old, wrinkly, and gray, together holding hands in our own home, with grandkid/s and still madly in love with each other, then I can say we have a successful one. After we celebrate our 75th or 80th wedding anniversary still madly in love with each other, then I can say we’re successful.
I’m no expert, I always say that. But it helps to really like the person you are marrying. Not just love. Not just lust. Really LIKE. As in you like spending time with him, you like his personality, his lifestyle, his company, and you don’t mind at all to be stuck with him 24/7. Marry your best friend. And have respect for each other above all.
Wedding Anniversary Letter
I know I always post it to social media yearly alongside a Wedding Anniversary letter and note for you. So, this year, after launching this blog, I feel it fitting to level-up and post it here.
My Love,
Our love story is not perfect nor fancy, but an EPIC one for sure! Happy 8th Wedding Anniversary!
Thank you for everything you do for our little family. For all the sacrifices and hard work, for the dedication and loyalty. I know you’re out there in the middle of the ocean, but please know in your heart that I am truly, genuinely, and madly in love with you so much! I am and will be forever faithfully yours; yours and only yours whatever life throws us.
Thank you for being my ultimate inspiration to bring out the best in me every single time, for being my rock and always there supporting me, and for being my wings and showing me how to fly and reach for my dreams. You are God’s gift to me and I vow to treasure you for the rest of my life. You and Kailey are my world, my everything, and my forever!
Your One & Only,
Rachel
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So, what did you give your other half on your wedding anniversary? They say it’s hard to find the perfect present. But if you know your partner well, I’m pretty sure it’s not that hard.
Here are some of my previous gifts to Adrian. Hoping to inspire and help others pick their gifts 😉 Perfect for wedding anniversary gifts and ideas!
Whether you believe in wedding anniversary gifts or not, that’s up to you. All I pray is for all of our relationships to be stronger, more successful, be full of love and abundance!
And here’s more Wedding Anniversary gifts and ideas.
