Dear husband,

Our four year wedding anniversary is coming up in a matter of days and all I’ve been thinking about is how blessed we are. We have come a long way in the past four years, growing as a couple, growing as parents and even growing as individuals. These four years have been some of the best years of my life. I’m sure that the years to follow are going to be just as great and full of many life lessons to learn. I’ve learned a lot in these four years, but here are my favorite lessons so far.

One of the first things I’ve learned is that time doesn’t change everything. I know, it’s one of those sayings that literally every influential person in your life says that give it time, sleep on it because tomorrow is a different day. Today, even four years later, you can give me butterflies by just looking at me in a certain way from across the room. Your goofy grin can melt away all my fears, calm all my storms. It’s like my soul knows we need to be together and my psyche senses right when I need you the most. Call me crazy, but this is love. Time will never change that. If anything, time will make me love you more, but never love you less.

Another thing that our marriage taught me pretty quick is that kids make everything more hectic, but definitely more interesting. In all honesty, I didn’t picture us having kids within a year of being married. I really didn’t see us having two kids within two years of being married. I’ve heard that the first year of marriage is hard, but I’ve never heard of how hard the first four years is with two kids, three and under. Our schedules basically revolve around making sure the girls survive day to day life. Let’s face it, I’m not the most graceful person and you’re pretty head strong, so naturally our girls struggle just to finish whatever task they start. The older the girls get, the more hectic our days will be. I can’t wait to see where these girls take us and I’m so happy you’re the one I get to enjoy this with.

A fairly recent lesson is that spontaneity is the key to a happy, loving marriage. Even in the midst of our hectic daily lives and constant changes, we tend to get very complacent with our life. We start going through the motions of saying I love you and doing the daily routines of being husband and wife. It happens to everyone, even great couples, but it happens to us every few weeks. While I do love you, I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes it feels like the phrase “I love you” is just a phrase with no meaning. We say it at the end of every phone conversation, every morning when you leave for work and every night before we fall asleep. The only times this phrase feels like it has emotion behind it is when we say it outside of the regular expected times. When you randomly send me an “I love you” text in the middle of the day, I remember that we do love each other, and that “love” is more than just a four letter word.

Lastly, the most important lesson of all is that true love can conquer all. Cliché and corny, I know, but in all seriousness, I truly believe it can. We have been through many ups and downs in the four years we have been married. We’ve relocated, bought a house, had two kids, and struggled with simply communicating with one another. Every time we’ve ever had an issue, we’ve broken it down for each other and made our way through it. We have overcome every curve ball thrown at us. Even if it took a while, we have still managed to come through as the same happily married couple who started out on this wonderful journey officially four years ago.

Thank you for choosing me. Thank you for leading the way and showing me some of the greatest things in life. Thank you being patient with me when I go into my moods. Thank you for being the best daddy to our girls. Thank you for being the greatest husband I could ever ask for. Thank you for simply being you. It takes two to make a marriage work, and thank you for going above and beyond to make ours work. I love you now, tomorrow and for the rest of forever. Happy anniversary.