Six Years of Marriage

It’s hard to believe I got married six years ago. Apparently, I only blog about my anniversary on even anniversaries, so 6 years gets a blog post (this is not on purpose in the slightest).

Last year, for our fifth anniversary, we had a lot of plans. We contemplated going to Norway, but then we found out we were moving. We were actually planning to spend five years in the Bay Area. Then I broke my foot, and COVID happened, so we spent it at home.

Year five of marriage brought a lot of change! Over the last year, we’ve moved from Cherry Hill, NJ, to Napa, CA. Now we are planning our next move (I know!) to Edwards AFB. Am I excited to go live on a military base? LOL.

Anyway, like any couple, we’ve had our ups and downs. We’ve fought about trivial things, but we seem to always work them out. Two days ago, on our car ride into Tahoe, we got stuck by a rockslide. For four hours, we went 6 miles. Somehow our marriage survived.

So here is a little back story in case you are interested. If you’re not, running posts will be back tomorrow.

Many long-term readers know “how we met,” but many people don’t. Plus, I expect exactly zero people to remember details of my personal life. LOL, we all live busy lives, but I’m always interested to see how other people met their significant other, so I thought I would share.

The Proposal:

On April 1, 2014, Tim proposed to me.  It was exactly what I wanted, low-key and at our house.  We are low-key, and I could not have asked for a better proposal.  As much as we both love running, proposing at a race or in front of hundreds of people is not either of our scenes.  Neither are big crowds or making a huge scene. If you are with me and make a big scene, I will probably walk away from you.

Even though we lived in New Jersey, we decided to get married in my hometown area in Norfolk, Virginia.  We spent a year wedding planning and got married on April 12, 2015.  While planning a wedding further away was more difficult, it wasn’t as stressful because we both have such supportive and helpful family and friends. We couldn’t have dreamed of a better day.

Life Over the Last 10 Years:

My husband and I met during college cross country season in 2011.  It was a scrimmage race between our two universities. I went to SUNY Potsdam, and he went to Clarkson.

Tim ended up winning the scrimmage race for men, and I won for females.  After the scrimmage, we talked for a while and went on a run a few weeks later. Cross country season went by, and we still chatted after the season.

During this time, I was coming back from my first serious running injury, a tibial stress fracture.  Tim did multiple sports and was getting ready for ski season.  Since the cross country was over and he was no longer running competitively, running slower didn’t matter.  I was running easy after my injury, and he was running easy just to run.

Eventually, after several runs, we hung out outside of running. When the semester ended, we both went to our hometowns for the winter break. Tim drove down to Virginia Beach from central Pa and visited for New Years’.

Later in the spring of 2012, we officially started “officially dating.”  I was blogging at the time, and I don’t think I even mentioned on the blog: OMG, you guys, a new man in my life”.

In May of 2012, we both graduated from college and decided to try a long-distance relationship.  Our options at that point were long-distance or break up.

Tim went to Air Force Undergraduate Pilot school in Texas, and I began working in Oswego, NY.  During that time, we both learned a lot about ourselves, interests, and hobbies.  We were living thousands of miles apart! I’ve always been fairly independent, but I think it helped set me up for a chaotic, fly by the seat the pants schedule.

We went just over six months without seeing each other.  It was one of the hardest times of our relationship but worth it.  The first time we saw each other again was Thanksgiving, and it was as if nothing had changed.

After Thanksgiving, we saw each other again for Christmas, then in March and in May. It was a lot easier than the first few months.  After nearly a year of distance, we made the decision I would move to Texas. As much as I enjoyed my job in Oswego, I wanted to continue my relationship with Tim, and we had to eventually move (he did not have that choice).

In late 2013, Tim graduated his pilot training, and we were told we would be moving to New Jersey. Neither of us knew anything about NJ (except people drive very quickly on the Turnpike).

We lived in New Jersey for 7 years, and if you know me, you know how much I love the garden state. The people, the diners! We never thought we would stay there that long.

We spent a large portion of our twenties in NJ. The location was great to see both of our families and travel to places on the East Coast. We developed new hobbies like hiking and general aviation.

In January of 2020, we found out we were moving to California. It was never a surprise we would move again, but it was a surprise we didn’t move for so long. Sometimes I forgot the time would come to move again.

When I think about the last seven years in NJ and what the highlights were, I think of seeing our family several times a year, meeting some of our closest friends, adopting Frick and Frack, and New Jersey just not being “what we expected.”

Then COVID hit. Our move was delayed, and we left NJ in July 2020. It was hard to move during the pandemic. I could not see and do many things I wanted to before leaving, but we did our best while being safe.

Driving across the country was interesting, to say the least. Every state was very different in its rules, mask-wearing, etc. We stuck to ourselves and ate in our hotel with the cats. It worked for us.

 

So now here we are, April 2021. To say I didn’t “think I would plan another move in less than a year” is a lie. There was always the possibility we could move again (it just never happened in NJ). Tim is preparing for his dream program of Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB. He has wanted to do this as long as he’s been in the Air Force, and I couldn’t be happier for him. Do I like the idea of moving twice during a pandemic (or twice during the year)? Of course not, but it is what it is.

California is a big state, and we are moving roughly 400 miles South (about 90 minutes east of Los Angeles). It’s the same distance as NJ to NC, so it’s not a down the road type of move.

Anyway, happy anniversary to Tim. Maybe in 10 years, we can take that trip to Norway.