4 years

Tomorrow will be the 4 year anniversary of one of the most important and life-changing days of my life. That is the day I met my husband. It may be weird to some people that we still celebrate our dating anniversary after we were married... but for some reason, the day we met stands out to me more than the day we married. The day we met was the first time I actually believed that I would ever find love. Really. Before that, I thought I would find someone I got along with who I would not get totally annoyed with over time. I did not believe in love, (especially at first sight! How ridiculous!) Because I had never met anyone who was really even close. And then we met. And our first date lasted for 7 hours because neither of us wanted it to end or to stop talking to the other one. And I started to suspect that this man may just be the one I would be with forever. We knew for sure a week and a half later. It was just right.
The first month we dated, I ran up a ridiculously large phone bill from constantly texting through the day. I was on my surgery rotation, and was on call every 3rd night. Ethan was working a late shift in a pharmacy. The two together meant our dates would start at 9 or 10 pm and I was still getting up at about 4:00-4:30 to go in to the hospital. I am not sure how I even physically did that now! When I was on call, he would come to the hospital and we would just hang out in the courtyard for as long as we could. It was scary and crazy and amazing all at the same time.
the wedding? That was really just getting some paperwork in order. We still celebrate that anniversary, but the dating anniversary has always felt more meaningful to me.

4 years. And many more to come.