Three Whole Years with Rob

Three years seems like both a long stretch and barely any time at all. Rob and I have crammed a lot into our three years together; shoot - I've known some people who are or were still in the casual dating phase after only 1,095 days. Sometimes that's not enough time to know for certain. Fortunately for us it didn't take nearly that long. I realize that many people scoffed at the breakneck speed at which our relationship progressed, and I'll be the first to say that our head-first style is not for everyone, but it's worked beautifully for us. Our life together has gotten better each year, and continues to flourish as we carve out the path we want for ourselves. I could not be doing the things I do now without him, and probably the same is true for him. I celebrate today, March 13th, and remember the day in 2009 when I finally stopped making my life more difficult than it needed to be, when I allowed myself to be truly happy with the person I was supposed to be with. And I remember that it was effortless; Rob wanted this as badly as I did. We were happy then, but we could never have known how much happier we'd be years later. It was so fortunate that we linked up when we did, though, because both our years in Maine were drawing to a close for both of us. Rob could no longer afford to stay in an area where no jobs were available to him, and I couldn't continue to work a job that made me so dismally unhappy (not so much the kids that I taught but the hostile and harsh environment in which I was so obviously an outsider that would never be allowed in). We made the decision to stay one more year, which was made so much easier by being together, then embarked on the most wonderful journey in family, career changes, and true fulfillment. He is the ideal companion for all things.