Too Good to Be True

As I sit watching the gray, misty, snowiness outside our window, I can't help but think that life is just too good to be true right now.

There was a period of time, when Ben was traveling for months on end, when I couldn't imagine ever getting here. It seemed impossible, improbable, that we would ever have a normal day-to-day life together. And yet, here we are, cooking dinners at home on weeknights, watching cheesy TV, enjoying a bottle of wine over a board game, enjoying all of the mundane but wonderful pieces of daily life that many take for granted. Perhaps the fact that virtually the first five years of our relationship were spent long distance was actually a blessing in disguise. I feel that now, in our three months on this adventure, our marriage has strengthened and matured more than it did during our first two years combined. I suspect (and hope) that as a result we will never take for granted all the seemingly minute moments we're able to spend together.

I hope that every young couple has the chance to experience this joy. There is something so unique about embarking on an adventure that is foreign to each individual, thus making it something shared only between the two of us. It is a bonding thing, a time that we will have to fall back on for the rest of our lives.

Of course, our dramatic move has not come without its challenges, whether in the form of the monumental climate change (ie, "I refuse to wear my hiking boots out on the town just so that we can walk in -26 weather!"), conquering fears (without Ben's gentle but persistent encouragement, I probably would have had several breakdowns/panic attacks on the ski hills), or just those intense pangs of homesickness that hit at the most inopportune moments (like New Year's Eve). The beautiful part is the way we have dealt with all of these small traumas together.

In spite of fears and challenges and uncertainty, I have more faith in our relationship than ever. I feel so happy and content with being at this stage in our lives together, that it makes me nervous. It makes me wonder how we got lucky enough to deserve all we have, but as Ben says - we should just enjoy it. And we will! We will keep laughing until our cheeks hurt, challenging ourselves until we cry, traveling the world until we're broke and enjoying each other all along the way!