Four Years

Brad and I have officially know each other for four years as of May 5 and been officially "in a relationship" four years as of May 30 (it took 25 days for him to ask me out?! what was he thinking...)!

This is a picture of me on the day we met. 

A few hours later it was dark out, and a band was playing in the parking lot between two bars in midtown Atlanta. He saw me dancing to the music and I saw him smiling at me. So I took a chance and smiled back. He was cute! and I thought, "maybe if I smile a lot he will come over here?" After some time, he took a chance and came to dance with me. He held my hand that night and we ended up talking more than we danced. Its so funny to think of us there, not knowing what we were getting into. Just a chance meeting of two strangers, who ended up being so compatible. The day changed both of our lives, and it could just as easily never have happened. I was actually intending to meet a guy there who I'd been on a few dates with already. He stood me up that night, thankfully for me, or Brad and I probably never would have met at all.

He lived in his Dad's basement and didn't have a job or a car. As a result, he was lacking the "characteristics" that at the time I would have told you were critical for a boyfriend. But he was so charming and so much different than other guys that I couldn't stay away (plus, who isn't attracted to foreign men?). And I the more time I spent with him, the more I realized that he made me feel like the person I always wanted to be: smart, fun and exciting, funny, interesting, beautiful. He came into my life at a time when I didn't know who I was anymore or who I wanted to be, and he reminded me. It felt so good to be with him, even just watching TV in his bedroom in the basement of his Dad's house, eating tacos he would cook for us.

He got his first job in North Carolina only 5 months after we met, but we were already in love and my heart knew I couldn't say goodbye. I felt that he might be "the one," even so early on. So I took another chance and agreed to move to North Carolina with him after I graduated from college three months later. There were some rough times in there, I think being apart made us doubt our decision. And its hard to have a relationship through video chatting. But in the end we made it through the time apart. I moved in and we were happy as before. He supported me while I went through graduate school at Duke for two years. I worked two jobs to pay the portion of my tuition that loans wouldn't cover. And then, as you know, when I got my current job in Seattle, he agreed to move with me, even before he knew that his company would let him transfer. We packed up our life and drove it across the country. That was almost a year ago now (seems crazy that so much time has passed!).

After four years later he still makes me a better person. He helps me when I am struggling with computer tasks at work (or, I should say, he's taught me everything I know about Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Access, which is enough to do my job and impress my boss). He eats all the food I make, never complaining even when things come out wrong. He helps me stay active and encourages me to try new things. We just get along every day, in spite of the fact that we've had to rely on each other's company more than I think should be expected of anyone. Anyway, I could go on like this for a long time, so I'll just say that before I met Bradley I dated a lot of different guys. I didn't come into this a novice to love and to relationships. So I feel I have the required experience to genuinely say that I couldn't ask for more from a relationship, from a partner. I know our love and mutual respect for each other will only grow over the years we have ahead of us. I'm so lucky I was stood up that day, and that I took a chance on a stranger!!!

Here are just some random photos (many B-sides, that I wouldn't have posted before) from our past four years...ones that I like in particular.

Hahah...our first anniversary trip. A lot of my pictures of Brad are him shirtless or him eating something.

We loved this stupid cat, even though she couldn't control her bladder.

Looking cute when we got donuts on Halloween (after a corn maze).

Climbing a tree when we were up in Niagara.

One time he cooked me an egg shaped like a teddy bear for breakfast.

On the way to Winter Formal at the Duke Nicholas school ( not sure why I let him grow his hair so long)...

Waiting in line for the dinner cruise around the Puget sound that we took for my birthday!

On the fourth of July we took popcorn down to the lake to watch the fireworks from Bellevue. We are obsessed with Brad's homemade popcorn!

A recent hike at Mt. Si -- I love you, Bradley! You are my life!