Year One

Sunday marks Eric and my 1-Year Wedding Anniversary!  Our wedding was my dream wedding (and Eric's too!)...I wouldn't change a single detail of that perfect day.

I can’t believe how fast time has gone by, but this has definitely been the best year of my life: full of love, incredible memories and zero regrets.  In the past 365 days we have had a lot of firsts, and a lot of moments we won't soon forget.  Here's what we've done:

August: Said “I do” on the Highlander Golf Course in Wenatchee (wasn’t our wedding just perfect?! Seriously!), Honeymooned in the Puget Sound

September: Moved to Tennessee, Got our first apartment, Bought our first car

October: Avoided Eric’s 2^nd deployment by choosing a job in Germany, Wore cowboy boots to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville

November: Shared a whole pie on our 1st Thanksgiving together

December: Celebrated Christmas with our families, Snow-shoed at Mission Ridge

January: Rang in the New Year in Downtown Portland, Arrived in Germany 5 days later

February: Rooted for the US Olympic team from our hotel room in Grafenwohr, Lived in said hotel room for 1.5 months and without our car for 2.5 months

March: Spent Eric’s birthday together for the 1^st time ever

April: Saw our first dinosaur bones in Frankfurt, Toured castles in Munich, had pastries in Nuremberg on Easter weekend

May: Bridget chopped off most of her hair (Eric loved it!), We danced the night away at a club in Regensburg

June: Shopped countless flea markets across Bavaria, Eric got tatted up in Vilseck, Saw the sun setting on the river in Prague

July: Drank beer in Berlin on the 4^th of July, Cheered for Deutschland at a pub in Eschenbach during the World Cup, Spent Bridget’s birthday together for the 1^st time ever

August: Bought 2 small puppies that we clearly are obsessed with

So much else has happened: little moments & big moments.  And so much of it we couldn’t even have predicted.  Especially this move to Germany!  We’ve spent a total of 6 weeks apart during this year too, which is nothing compared to the TWO times we went a year without seeing each other, not including Eric’s Iraq deployment.  I feel like we’ve really taken advantage of this year together, although we’ve been far from family and friends 90% of the time.  But it's been so good for us.  At the risk of sounding like a braggart, I’d say we’ve shifted into married life really well.  Not that it should’ve been hard, but considering we had never spent more than a week or so together at a time, we transitioned into a partnership without a single significant hiccup.  We’ve had a lot of laughs, learned a lot of lessons, and mostly just fallen more in love with our lives, each other, and all the incredible experiences we’ve been given.  Eric and I both say that it seems like we’ve been married longer than a year.  Not in the bad way, just in the way that it’s hard to recall what it was like spending all of our days apart.  I remember counting down the weeks and days before I got to see Eric when we lived in separate states (which was pretty much nonstop), promising myself that I’d never take a moment with him for granted.  I still try not to and I can’t think of a single person I’d rather have waited for.

So excited to see what year 2 has to offer.  We’re thinking Italy.