With Love

^sometimes he’s cheesy

Three years ago today I was waking up early to dye the icing pink for the cinnamon rolls. I snuck into Ben’s kitchen and left them on the table with a note, excerpts from my journal from the month we met. That afternoon I was back to his apartment before he got home from class. He found a plate of pink sugar cookies on his bed with memories from January. I thought I was pretty cute, especially with his valentine’s day tie still wrapped and hidden with a long letter about how I felt in February (looking back it blows my mind we were this sappy after just a month or so of dating).

We spent the evening on a poetry scavenger hunt all over provo. At dinner the waitress handed me an envelope with my first clue. With my second clue there was a single rose, which led to dessert where the employee handed me a another long poem. Throughout the evening I collected roses and little love notes and we ended up in the canyon drinking hot chocolate under the stars.

Three years later a lot has changed. I don’t get giddy butterflies when he reaches out and holds my hand, but when I look into his eyes there is a love stronger than I knew back then. I’m okay with that, with the giddiness subsiding and affection maturing. Love changes as it grows, as our roots get wider and deeper. Today I am thankful for the challenges, the struggles that have brought us closer and made us rely on each other. Today I am thankful for a best friend, and I that I found him in a California skater boy when I was only twenty. I’m thankful for the three years we’ve had, and for all the ones to come.

And in the spirit of sap and love, here’s an excerpt from that poetry scavenger hunt, three years ago:

“You light up my life and I can’t emphasize enough how I adore you. I’d do anything for you, when poems turn to rambling, my mind begins scrambling, my heart stammering, hammering out every last note. Constant, unabashedly, emotional, fantastically, drastically, you’ve changed my whole world and brought hope.”   -Ben circa 2011

I married a poet, although maybe he should leave the Valentine’s Day morning cooking to me and my cinnamon rolls 😉

P.S. If you love this skirt as much as I do, note I’m 5’4.5″ and when worn regularly it hits me right at the knee cap, a few inches lower than pictured here. It sits closer to the hips but I wore it a bit higher  here on my natural waist to fit the bow belt around. So for us short girls, the skirt actually fits a bit longer than it looks like on the website (and now I want it in the rest of the colors!).

I ordered a size S in the heart blouse, and while it fits, I’d order a M if I were doing it again because I like my blouses a little looser (I usually wear S, XS).