Happy No. 8!

It’s somewhat hard to believe that eight years ago today, Chris and I landed in the United States to officially start our lives together. After much discussion, we chose March 5, 1999 as the official beginning of our relationship, and the date to count anniversaries from. It has been an incredible eight years, and each one I am extremely thankful for. In 1998 when I told my mother that I was planning to move to the United States, she asked me two questions: “do you love Chris?” and “will this make me happy?” – both of which I answered yes. She also shared her views on making decisions that you will live to regret for years to come, or – as we more appropriate to our conversation at the time – not making a decision that I would regret for the rest of my life. It was a new journey for me, and for Chris – and today we celebrate the eighth year of our journey together.

This picture was taken in September 1998, a few days after I met Chris for the first time. My ex and I were visiting friends in Dallas, and Chris had recently become a roommate of theirs. Days before we landed in Dallas, Chris was sent off to New Orleans (he worked for State Farm National Catastrophe at the time). After we landed, we decided to pay Chris a visit in New Orleans, and here is where this picture was taken, at Pat O’Briens.

We have had an incredible journey together, and I am hopeful that we will have many more to come. I think we are different people today, compared to those two sitting in that picture, but we are stronger, wiser (a nice way of saying ‘older’) and still very much in love.

Happy Anniversary Chris. I’ll always love you.