Thanks to Tony, Toni, Tone' I always hear "Anniversary" play in my head each and every time I even say the word! And Sunday was no exception as it was our very first WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!!!! It completely baffles me how a year has gone by and we have already done so much and grown leaps and bounds in our relationship.
1 YEAR TOGETHER AND STILL SMILING!!!!!
Since last June we have moved FOUR times. Kelsey moved in with me at his sisters apartment - Philly, we moved to our fabulous little studio in August in Rittenhouse Square - still Philly, we moved into Budd Manor in January - Moorestown, and into our first studio/1 bedroom Dominican style - Picard, Dominica and will move again this August into our final apartment (hopefully) here in Dominica.
Since last June Kelsey and I have been to FOUR countries. Kelsey and I went to part 1 of our honeymoon in St. Kitts in the Caribbean, in November Kelsey went to Mozambique while I drove cross country to Louisiana, in December Kelsey and I traveled all over Thailand for part 2 of our honeymoon and then this past April we moved to Dominica for the next 16 months while Kelsey is attending medical school.
At times, I have felt like our relationship and most definitely our first year of marriage, has been like one of those chose your own adventure novels I used to read as a child. Each chapter would end with me changing the direction of the adventure based on my "choice for the characters". On this miraculous adventure called "marriage" I have wanted to "chose" (at times) the direction of our adventure, thinking I would know how it was going to go. However, each "decision" has brought me to a completely different destination than I thought. But along the way we it has brought us closer (although sometimes through precarious circumstances and stressful situations). But none the less we are closer now then we ever have been before. And I pray that this statement rings truer and truer as the years begin to pass.
As I continue to reflect upon the past year I have realized that God has and is continuing to use my beloved husband to make and mold me into the woman HE has always created me to be. My thoughts of "me" have become "we" and doing things for Kelsey fill my heart with joy more than a gift to myself ever could (ok maybe a choloe purse may come close). This is not to say that I don't have my moments of selfishness, where thoughts of "what about me" and "why does he (Kelsey) always get his way" (totally not true, but from the viewpoint of my fleshy soul it is alas the lens that I first look through).
But most of all I now know, more than ever that I have found the love of my life! He is the only one I want to wake up to each and every sweaty, hot morning here in Dominica - actually he is the ONLY one I would move to Dominica for. And he is the one that I know always has my best interest at heart - even if I can't see it at the time. He loves me like no other person in my life, for my family will love me because we're family - but Kelsey has chosen to love me for the rest of my life and I him.......it's the best gift I have ever received (aside from Jesus ;) ).
SOOOOOOO I know you are all wondering - "How did you celebrate?" Well since Kelsey had an Anatomy Practical on Tuesday we decided to play it low key - so we started with sleeping in late (which Kelsey does with ease - but I struggle with) and then had a french toast breakfast with bacon (Kelsey's favorite!) Next we went to church and then had the daunting task of where to eat! We didn't want to do a fancy dinner, since we were thinking about doing that the following Sunday to celebrate, and we didn't want to do chinese, so that didn't really leave us many options, so we ended up at.........................................
Yes - we did KFC!
We were starting to run out of options and neither of us was really feeling one place or another, so we ended up at the KFC which was on our way home.
Then we came home and I finally watched the Count of Monte Cristo with Kelsey and it was great! However our celebrating doesn't stop there - this Sunday we will be ziplining and going to a fabulous dinner.....look out for future posts.
Until next time - Remember to always take time each day to be thankful......for something!
