Recently I realized that I had never shared our photos that we had done last fall by Rach Lea Photography. I still wanted to share them. Better late than never right? I also thought it would be fun to sum up our love story in 20 bullet points, not sure if that’s possible, but let’s try this…
1. We met in high school. He was 17, I was 16. He was a senior & I was a junior.
2. We went to different schools. He went to the public school & I went to the private school.
3. We met in a mutual friends basement. That mutual friend takes all the credit for us meeting. & we are so happy & thankful he had both of us over that day! One of the first things he said to me was that my socks didn’t match. It was fate. & my socks rarely match still to this day. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
4. Our first real date was to a coffee shop & we talked for hours. He told me on the way home from that date that he could see me in his future. I didn’t know why he liked me, but I felt like the luckiest girl in the world.
5. We dated all through high school. He was the baseball player & I was the cheerleader.
6. Jose went off to the military when I was a senior in high school. That was a lot for an emotional teenager to handle. I would doodle love song lyrics during class & send them in the mail to him.
6. The night before he left he gave me a blanket off his bed because it smelled like him. I still have that blanket. & while he was gone he wrote me a letter every Sunday & I wrote him everyday. I still have those letters.
7. When he got home from bootcamp he gave me a promise ring while we were going through a carwash. Going through a carwash has never been the same since.
8. He was only home for a few weeks before he had to leave again & go live in Florida A school. Michigan & Florida have never seemed so far apart.
9. While he was in Florida I worked 2 jobs to put myself through college & to keep myself busy & my mind off missing him.
10. To “hang out” with each other we used to watch tv shows together over skype. Our favorite was Lost. We would fall asleep on skype together often & it kinda sorta made it feel like he wasn’t so far away.
11. Fast forward to when he moved to North Carolina & was stationed there when I was 19 years old. He came home on leave in July & on July 4th 2007 he asked me to be Mrs. Galvan under the fireworks on Lake Michigan. I have never been more happy to say Yes in my life.
12. 3 months later on September 28th, 2007 on my mom’s birthday, we were under a gazeebo on a beautiful golf course saying our vows in front of close family & friends, our pastor, & the Lord. He was in his dress blues & I was in a pretty white dress.
13. The day after we got married I packed up all my belongings & we traveled from Michigan to North Carolina. Our honeymoon was traveling to our new home & we couldn’t have been more content and happy.
14. Our first home was a brand new town home & we loved that little house & had some great memories in that home like getting our baby shitzu, Bella, who is now 6 years old.
15. Right when we moved to NC I quickly became accustomed to being a marine wife. He was deploying, working long hours, flying across country, & him being home with me was such a treat. We cherished every second. & I’m thankful for those days because have made me love every second with him & never take it for granted.
16. While on his second deployment over seas we decided that I would move out of our town-home & go home to Michigan for a few months while we had a house built in NC for us. While I was home I got a job to keep myself busy & I got to spend lots of time with family and friends. We only got to talk on the phone once in a while & all of our communication was through email.
17. In June of that year {3 years ago} Jose returned from his deployment {watch the video here} to a newly built home which we still live in today. This house has been so good to us & we have so many great memories in it. Like all the times we have had family & friends come stay with us, Bella giving birth to 6 puppies {one of those was Bear}, & just all the time we got together in this home. There have been some very big lows as well. Losing his dad to cancer, losing two babies before we got to meet them {read about our first loss here}, & saying goodbye to friends who have moved away, but these things have thankfully only made us stronger than I ever thought we could be, closer than we ever dreamed possible, & happier with our many blessings in life.
18. Shortly after Jose returned from his second deployment he got a teaching job on base. It was a life changer. No more long hours, no more leaving. We were so relieved & happy. He is still at that job & I feel so blessed how relaxed our lives are with an amazing schedule & no stress. To this day I am so thankful for the time we get with each other everyday.
19. Currently we are both in school,we are DIY’ing something daily, We are getting our house ready to put on the market, currently getting ready to start our countdown to getting out of the military in a year & moving back to Michigan, & currently enjoying all our time together. Road trips, coffee shop dates, movie nights, & learning more & more about each other everyday. We love our life.
20. 10 years together {a whole DECADE!} & 6 years of marriage. We couldn’t do any of it with out having God number one in our marriage. I know our happiness, joy, & pure love for each other is a gift from God. Blessed & thankful. To God be the Glory! God is good!!
That was our love story in 20 bullet points. Didn’t think that was possible, but in short that is the past 10 years with the amazing man I get to call my husband. Of course I left out some important moments & other exciting things. But that can come in another post right? I won’t bore you with all the photos because again, ain’t nobody got time for that. So, here are a few favorites…
[…] Read 20 facts about our Marriage [here] […]