A Happy 3rd Anniversary letter to my best friend.

Not many people can say they met their wife while on a date with another girl – but I can.  I went on a date in downtown Chagrin Falls and I took this girl into my mom’s store for an introduction and the rest was history.  The moment I saw you, Kelsey Rose, that date was over and the rest of my life would be changed forever.  My heart nearly pounded out of my chest.  My mom introduced me to her favorite employee, Kelsey, and I knew, you were the one. But do you remember what happened next?

My mom told you to stay as far away from me as you possibly could.  She told you I didn’t treat women well and that I was a bit of a player and unfortunately, she was right.  At the time, I didn’t have much respect for myself, let alone anyone else.  Even after we finally started dating, I made my fair share of mistakes.  Now, 11 years later, here we are celebrating our third wedding anniversary and I can honestly say from the bottom of my heart, I am the happiest man on earth.  You’ve made me a better man and you make me want to make the world a better place worthy of you and our daughters presence.

Hopefully this letter will help to shine a light on even a fraction of what you mean to me after all these years so let’s get started…

Kelsey Rose, let me start by officially saying, Happy Third  Wedding Anniversary!  The last three years have been nothing short of incredible.  We got married, bought a house, made it a home, had a beautiful baby girl and built a life together that takes my breathe away every single day.

The stereotype is that men don’t dream of what married life will hold but I sure did.  I wanted nothing more than to grow up to become a husband and a father yet somehow, this reality has been even better than I ever imagined it could be.

The advice I heard as a kid was that you should marry your best friend…

Welp, check that off the list.

The craziest part is, we’ve been together for 11 years now.  11 years in the books!!  Can you believe that?  Every single year you have found ways to make me love you more than I ever thought possible and the truth is…you deserve a trophy for putting up with me for 11 years.  Let’s review a few reasons why…

Years 1-2 were pretty rough.  We started out on fire but then I made every mistake imaginable.  Let’s just call it what it was, I was a world class a$$hole.

To be clear, I knew I you were the one the moment I met you but that terrified the 19-year old me.  Some people search for a lifetime to find someone like you and God gave you to me at 19 and I wasn’t ready.  Or at least, I didn’t think I was.  I tried to push you away but you wouldn’t budge.  You may have kept your distance for a while but you never gave up on me.

Years 2-3 we spent across state lines.  I went to basic training and that is when life started to make sense for me.  That’s when Chris Doyle slapped the shit out of me and told me I was dumb for pushing you away. Then do you remember what happened?

You wrote me that letter pretty much telling me how big of an a$$hole I really was and you thought it was a brilliant idea to use purple ink.  My drill sergeant saw the purple ink and made me do 7922 reps (your address #) of pushups, sit-ups, squats and flutter kicks throughout the day to “punish” me for the purple ink.  When I wrote back to you telling you I was sorry for all of the mistakes I had made and subtly asking you not to use purple ink anymore, do you remember what you did?

That’s right, purple ink for the return letter again with a nice little smiley face next to your address #.  7,922 reps later, I looked Chris in the eye and told him you were the woman I was going to marry.  I knew I had some making up to do for all of my mistakes but you never gave up on me.  You made me pay with that purple ink, but all I saw was a woman with a heart full of love who hadn’t quit on me yet.  That day I promised myself if you gave me another chance, I would be the best man I could be for you.  The best friend, the best boyfriend, and god-willing, the best husband some day.  You may have been mad but at least you wrote back and that was all I needed – another chance.

Years 3-5 we spent separated by an ocean but that’s when our relationship really started gaining momentum again (ironically).  I spent those two years in another country every other month but somehow that brought us closer.  Sometimes we went months on end without talking because I was in some eastern European country somewhere and had no way to talk to you but you never let that stand between us.  You stayed right there in my corner anxiously awaiting my call.

Kelsey Rose, you have strength beyond measure.  You have a golden heart and you have the purest form of love running through every inch of your body.

Year 5 is when I got injured and our lives got flipped upside down.  I spent the next 11 months in Kentucky trying to recover with little to no progress to show for all of my hard work.  Countless times I told you I would understand if this isn’t the life you wanted.  You were no older than 22 at the time and I told you that you didn’t need to spend the best years of your life looking after me but you didn’t budge.  You told me that after being away from each other for so long that being by my side is the only place you wanted to be.

So when the Army sent me home broken you were there with open arms to catch me.  You never looked at me differently.  You never treated me differently.  You never pitied me or felt sorry for me. You helped me pick my head up, you dusted me off and you helped me get back to work.  Together, you and I rebuilt our lives together.

Truth be told, that little a fire under me.  You have repeatedly shown me what you are made of and now, I’ll spend the rest of our lives showing you how I am made.

Year 6-11 brings us to where we are today.  Despite all of the challenges we have faced along the way, I wouldn’t change a thing.  Everything we’ve faced together has brought us closer together and the moment I saw you walk down that isle, my entire world made sense.

All of those mistakes I made gave me a chance to become better.  All of that time apart gave us the chance to appreciate each other more and all of the challenges we’ve faced has helped us become stronger, together.

Three years of marriage down and a lifetime to go.  It’s been a hell of a ride so far Kelsey Rose and I don’t care where we go from here as long as I’m with you.  With you and Isabella by my side, that’s all I will ever need.

Happy Third Anniversary, Love.

Tim

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