You're My Superhero

Four years ago today, was a day that changed my life.

July 13, 2008: My boyfriend sent me a text which said to meet him outside when he pulled up. I had my suspicions what he was about to do. He pulled into the driveway at my parent's house and I walked out to meet him. He looked nervous, very nervous. He got down on one knee, in my mother's flower bed and pulled out a box. He asked, "Will you Marry me?".

Several days later, we were asked by his mom, "When are y'all setting the date for?". As I started to reply and say we had yet to discuss it, he interrupted with, "September". Of course I thought he meant September 2009, but he corrected me. "This September", he said. Of course, I had a bit of panic, I'm sure, show in my face. Two months to plan a wedding. I was marrying a crazy man. Of course, he reassured me why he was the perfect man for me. Knowing it was a bit of a concern for me, he told me, "I want us to get married before I leave for boot camp. I want to make sure you actually get a wedding since everything with the military will be so unpredictable. I want to know you're taken care of while I'm gone.". Couldn't say no after hearing that. I felt all warm and fuzzy inside.

After deciding a month, we then had to decide on a date.. well, he decided on a date. Of course, it was football season, and There was no way we could get married on a big game for the Vols. So, he chose the 27th. No big games to conflict with. He's a goof.

September 27th: I was nervous. I got all dolled up in my white and ivory dress, had my hair done and my makeup was perfect. We had almost all the important people in our lives there for our big day, to watch, to congratulate us, to help me get ready and to share our day with us. I was so ready, anxious and a bit scared. We were young and we were RUSHing it (pun intended, as my last name is Rush). But I had never been so sure about something in my life.

The music was playing, guest were arriving.. things were getting started. "The Prayer" by Charlotte Church and Josh Groban started playing, Our parents walked up the aisle, lit our candles and took their seats. Anchors Aweigh started playing (This is what he wanted), and our Bridal party walked out. The Wedding march started playing and I was walked down the aisle. Seeing him up there, amazing. Him grinning, I'll never forget it. Our Unity candle song was, "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica. We caught a lot of hell for it, but it's a perfect song. We walked down the aisle together to "Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash. My husband and I are huge Cash fans. Our Cake cutting song was, "Just Eat it" by Weird Al. We wanted our Wedding to be very, "Us" and laid back. We had fun, together, and with all of our friends and family. Started our Honeymoon with a Titan's game, went to the Smokies for a couple days and finished it with a ZZ Top concert. It doesn't get much better than that.

Fast forward, September 27, 2012: I haven't killed him yet, totally kidding.. I'd go crazy without him. He's still my absolute best friend and I couldn't and wouldn't ever ask for a better husband. Seriously, I married my hero. He doesn't have to be wearing a cape, have super powers or even be a service member to be a hero. He is my everything, he makes me laugh, I can't stay mad at him, he brings so much happiness to my life.

This year is the first year we have been apart for our anniversary. I know, I'm lucky for that. And even though he's thousands of miles away and I may or may not get to talk to him at some point today.. I know how much today means to him, and to me.

I have to admit, I did have a lot of fun making his care package for our anniversary. I went with a Superhero theme because, well.. he's my Superhero (And he's a bit obsessed with Batman).

I didn't get as creative as I wanted. I had 2 pics of him when he was a kid dressed as Batman and as Captain America, as well as a pic of us a couple years ago dressed as the Joker and Batman.. err, girl that I wanted to put on the box, but alas, I ran out of time and out of ink.

I try to make every box fun, or "funny". Hence the Iron Man big boy undies. ;)

Musket, my cat, wanted to join in on the fun too..


Even thought it's not exactly what I wanted to do with the box, I know he's going to love it. And of course I had an awesome time getting it together and decorated. Oh, and I bet you anything he's going to prance around the berthing in the Iron Man undies. I was going to make him a cape, but I ran out of time to send the box and there was a lack of time to actually make it. So, no cape :(

Another exciting note? This was the LAST box before he comes home. :D
Homecoming is just around the corner. SO exciting!

Perfect

Four years ago this week, I was panicking, stressing and extremely nervous. On top of that, I was extremely excited. Four years ago,  I was only days away from marrying the most perfect man.

Fast forward to four years later, today, and I'm feeling those same emotions- but not for a wedding, and I'm not stressing over my anniversary, but I am stressing about homecoming. It creeps up on you and you wonder where all the time has went and how come your to-do list isn't done yet. Thoughts like, "Has he changed?", "Will he look at me different?", "Will he love me the same?", "I just want everything to be perfect" and more sometimes go through your head.

The most stressful parts to a deployment, to me, are the time leading up to him actually leaving, the final countdown to homecoming and then about a month after they've been home. There's a lot of adjusting, preparing, worrying, stressing, excitement, etc. Did I mention adjusting?

That's one thing about this lifestyle you either learn to love, or you learn to hate- in my opinion. Luckily, I thrive under pressure, even if I don't always like it. I get things done and get them done damn near perfect. It's the perfectionist in me. I want everything perfect. But let's face it, nothing is perfect. But, you make them perfect in their own little way.

Like my husband says, "Everything will be perfect, just being home with you is perfect.".

Perfectly said.

This is the time I have to remind myself to breathe, to relax while at the same time.. I'm telling myself to hustle, get busy and get things done. I fight with myself a lot on that.

This week, I have a lot to do. But, I'm going to make sure I take time this Thursday, September 27th and stop and do nothing but have fun. September 27th marks my 4 year anniversary to my perfect husband. He's not perfect, neither am I, but he is the perfect one for me.

Lucky in Love With My Best Friend

Where does the time go? It seems as if the past 3 years have flown by. It seems like my husband and I just said our wedding vows, but here we are. We are celebrating our third wedding anniversary together.

I guess it's true what is always said, "Time flies when you're having fun!".

I am having fun.

I couldn't imagine the past 3 years being any better, Even the days where things might have been hard for us, where we were challenged.. It couldn't be any better. Those hard times and the challenges, helped our relationship grow. You don't think there's more you can learn about someone when you've been with them a while.. even living with him before we were married. Marriage taught us so much about each other. Brought us even closer. He truly is my best friend. I know I have said he's my best friend a million times in blogs in the past, but it is true. My husband IS my best friend. I'm sure this blog post won't  be the last you hear me say that.

I can't wait to write about the 5 year mark, for us to get to the 10 year.. and the years and years to come.

I look at my grandparents, who just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on Sunday, and I think, "I want to be like them".
I'm sure they've had their hard times.. I'm sure of it, they had 4 children, Had to be some hard times.. Looking at Nanny and Grandpa now, you would think marriage was easy. I want that to be me and my husband. When our grandchildren see us, when we celebrate our 50 years together, I want them to see the same thing in us as I do my grandparents.

I know it is probably bad to compare your relationship to another, but I see what others say about their husband or I see how their relationship pans out, I can't help but think how lucky I am, how awesome my relationship is. Three years of being married, and honestly.. I still feel like a newlywed. Feeling like a newlywed may have something to do with him only being home from deployment for 2 months. But at the same time.. I can't recall a time in 3 years where I didn't still feel like a newlywed.

I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. And this is where he would say, "It's not luck if it's meant to be.".