Not Your Mama’s Anniversary Post

As someone who’s been married a *cough* handful of times, my thoughts on anniversaries have become more complex. An anniversary (whether in a career or a romantic relationship) doesn’t mean anything if it’s just a metric you use to give yourself false confidence. Committing to stay somewhere that doesn’t serve you is not an accomplishment. To me, today isn’t about having “made it this long”. Today is about having been healthy enough to have truly found contentment in marriage.⠀
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Fact: Tyler and I didn’t originally intend to ever get married. We’ve always been rather unconventional, we’ve never even had wedding rings. Marriage wasn’t required to achieve our goals as a couple, but we decided to one Friday on a whim- mostly for logistics at the time. ⠀
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I’m not going to come on here and say that our relationship is perfect or that the dynamic that serves us would work for you and your partner. I’m not going to post a sickening photo and gush about fairy tales. Today I am not celebrating a ticked box or a societal trophy; I’m celebrating much more than that.⠀
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What I am celebrating today is that five years ago I had finally accepted myself enough to be seen and loved for who I am, so that I could thrive in a relationship with another human. I am celebrating the untamed, healing woman that let go of the expectations of everyone else and began to thrive on her own terms.⠀
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I am celebrating the fact that Tyler and I have always done what works for us and have never fallen victim to what other people think we should be.⠀
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I’m celebrating five years of building a home and family with one of my best friends and the most good and true man I’ve ever met.⠀
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I don’t have the formula for happily ever after and I’m certainly not a perfect partner, but I’m proud of who we’ve remained and who we’ve become and I’m thankful for a relationship that nurtures both.⠀
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Happy 5th Anniversary to us. ❤️