Celebrating One Year Of Marriage

I seriously can not believe Cody and I are celebrating our one-year anniversary! I feel like I blinked and we’re here. This year of marriage has taught me a lot about myself and how to trust in what God’s plans are.

The day after our wedding, we headed up to the urgent care to have Cody checked out. He became really sick out of nowhere on the day of our wedding. When he woke up the following morning, Cody looked at me and said please take me to the doctor (THIS WAS PRE-COVID). I still had my “post-wedding day” look – makeup, hair extensions, and a late-night look all over my face. Cody threw on a hoodie, some pants and headed to the car. I can still remember the doctor laughing and saying, “So you just got married less than 24 hours ago and you’re here instead of on a honeymoon? This is a first for me!”

A few days after our wedding, we purchased our first piece of land together! Our family and closest friends have invested so much of their time and energy in helping prepare our land before we build. This has TAUGHT me a lot! Seeing everyone help and want to help makes me want to be a better person. I can never thank these people enough for showing me what real friendship is!

A month after that, I sat down with Cody and expressed how I was ready to take the leap and go full-time photography. I knew I was ready but I had worked a full-time 8-5 job for YEARS. Cody looked at me and said, “Go for it. Will make it work. If you don’t try to do it now, you never will.” The next day I spoke to my boss and explained everything (I’ve been full-time photography for officially 10 months now!)

Then in April when we were supposed to take our honeymoon, Covid hit and changed everything. I was nervous and scared with the decision I had just made to go full-time photography when this happened. Surprisingly though, we made the best out of the situation. We looked at one another one night and said, “Ya know. We can take this time and focus on getting out of any debt we have.”

Since that talk, we have paid off our land, our cars, and some other credit cards. But we decided to sell our boat and recently sold one of our cars. At first, I didn’t think that would be such a good idea but now to see how it has helped us gain financial freedom from debt. It’s been a blessing. I hear a lot of people say money can really put a strain on a marriage. So if we can prevent that, I rather do that now.

We have had our disagreements on things, celebrated the good, and cried during trying times. But waking up next to Cody is something I look forward to every morning. He’s become my best friend and my safe haven.

I remember seeing a post a while back saying, “Just a friendly reminder: if you hear someone talking positively about their life, marriage, business, etc. don’t make unnecessary comments like “enjoy it while it lasts.” or “just wait.” Not everyone is miserable.

Man, if that’s not the truth. I want to be happy and I want to enjoy the time I have left here on earth in the best way I know how. I don’t want to waste hours and days holding a grudge over some argument I won’t even remember what started it. When I see Cody drop everything he’s doing to come pick me up when my car stops working in the middle of 5 0’clock traffic, designs a birthday cake for our nephew when I ask him, travels out of town for weddings I have to photograph or when I’m in the shower and forgot to grab a towel. He does all this without complaining or making me feel like I’m getting on his nerves.

I don’t know what year TWO of marriage has in store for us. BUT I’m excited and ready to enjoy this next year but never forgetting what year ONE taught me.

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