Our Adventure Starts Here!

We met at martial arts two weeks after my fifteenth birthday. I was new and shy so one of the teachers introduced me to Eric and asked him to be my partner for the class. I liked him immediately, despite him grilling me on classic rock and mocking my lack of knowledge on the subject. Eric didn't seem to understand that fifteen-year-old girls in 2010 liked Taylor Swift and Beyonce, not Led Zepplin. After some time, as my father was escorting me home after class, Eric asked for my number under the guise of "inviting a few friends together." We dated for a few months, but we were too young for a successful relationship. We parted as friends, but I secretly held onto my crush. I looked for him every class, I was excited when he was there and crestfallen when he was absent. I was always looking for him. Years later, Eric cycled back to me at seventeen and we dated our senior year of high school. My crush turned into real love and it was reciprocated in full. We had a wonderful year together. Towards the end of 2014, college was looming and the future looked uncertain. Our relationship ended by the time spring came. It was our first heartbreak. I remember my grandfather telling me, "Give him two years, and he'll be back." Well, my grandfather certainly understood young men. Almost two years into college with not a word said between us, I received a text from Eric. He came back into my life like a boomerang. Eric leaped head first into the long-distance relationship that had once filled him with doubt. He never faltered again. We drove between Maryland and Delaware every other weekend to see each other throughout college. We became best friends and the love grew stronger every year. Eric stayed by my side through loss and illness. We moved in together after graduating with our cat Bandit. We played games and did pilates through the 2020 lockdown. We never missed our annual date to the renaissance fair. We moved to Delaware for Eric's physician assistant program three months after a car crash. We spent as much time as possible at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania to keep ourselves sane. I kept Eric moving forward even when he felt like he would never be able to graduate, and he fought tooth and nail to be with me as I went through two surgeries required after the car accident. We survived the two years as a team, supporting and loving one another. Our twenties have been filled with triumphs and hardships. But the most important thing is that we have had each other through all of it. We have been each other's home no matter where we were or what we had to face. We have chosen every day to stand by each other. To always try and make the other person laugh even on the worst of days. There is nothing we cherish more than our time together. We are working hard to make a happy future for ourselves, which starts now with celebrating our wedding! We are celebrating the love we have for each other, the future ahead of us, and the knowledge that we can face this life together with love, support, laughter, understanding, and commitment. “I think of love, and you, and my heart grows full and warm, and my breath stands still.”― Emily Dickinson