On June 30, Steve and I celebrated 12 years of marriage. I think there have been people in our life who figured we'd never get this far...we knew each other for a year when we got married and had only dated for 2 months when we got engaged.

We met because of my sister and her husband. My brother-in-law was having surgery and I was there visiting the next day and Steve just happened to be there because he was my brother-in-laws supervisor. I was 19 years old when I met him...I had just turned 19 about two months prior. I wasn't looking for anything serious at the time but honestly, when I met him, I had a gut feeling that there was something different about him.

We went on one date about a month after we met and because I was so nervous I would only let him take me to McDonald's...great first date place huh? I really liked him but when I realized just how much older he was then me, it scared me because I was 19 and he was 31 and we were in two different places in our lives. I wasn't sure if I was ready for something really serious so taking me to McDonald's seemed like a safe way to ensure the date would fail.

He was really very sweet and I did really like him. My aunt Mary gave me good advice...she was in Alaska at the time because my sister had just had her big wedding and the joke at my sister's wedding was Steve and I should just get married to at the time. My aunt told me to just give it time and not make decisions based off of anything anyone else was telling me and to just listen to my heart. I had a picture of the two of us from my sister's wedding and she said to tuck it away and see how I felt in a few months.

Steve and I kept in touch over the next few months and he deployed to Turkey. At Christmas time I realized that I really did care about him and that I did want to give a relationship a shot with him. I left a voicemail on his phone because it was the only way to get in touch with him since he was gone. I didn't know when I'd hear back from him but that was okay.

 I did hear back from him but it wasn't why I expected it to be. A few weeks after Christmas I had found out his parents had passed away. I called him again and left another voicemail. This time I heard back from him because he was now back in the states on emergency leave and had listened to his voicemail. It was so good to talk to him...I only wish it would have been for reasons that were not so sad. We talked regularly and emailed weekly though and continued to do so while he finished his deployment in Turkey.

When he came back, I had just turned 20 and we both decided to give a relationship a shot. It didn't take me long to really realize I had fallen in love with him. About six weeks into our relationship, he went to Washington to see his sister who had just had a baby. He tells me that's when he realized his feelings for me. He came back and after about a couple more weeks of dating we decided to get married. He was getting ready to move to Japan so we had a very small wedding.

Our marriage has been filled with ups and downs and some years have been easier then others but I would not change anything. I am thankful that I have found a friend in Steve and someone who I thoroughly enjoy spending time with. Some days I get so frustrated with him and I find it hard to stay mad because he will smile at me and I just forget why I was so upset...I try and fight it but it doesn't work.

He is on the next chapter in his life since retiring from the military and that brings new challenges for our family but I look forward to tackling them together. We are lucky to have made it this far but I look forward to what the next many, many years brings for us :)