Sharing the World

Today, was not a great day. When I got home, Kyle had also had a bad day.

I was hungry, and peeved, so I went right into aggressive tidying and prepping for dinner. He pulled me into a hug right there in the kitchen and said, “Life sucks today, so it’s a good thing we have each other.”*

And he’s right.

The fact of the matter is, I catch a lot of shit for living and planning my life with what most people refer to as my high school sweetheart. But what most people don’t understand is that he’s not.

Sure, we have dated since we were in high school. We also dated in college. And continued to date after college. And moved in together to live in sin until we decide where the next steps will take us in this absolutely crazy adventure known as life.

But, neither one of us is the same person we were in high school, and we’ve already grown and changed more than we imagined since college. I hope the same will be true for the next 5, 10, 20, 50 years as well. Some people have questioned me, “How can you date the same guy you did in high school?” It’s simple. I don’t.

If you’ve never heard Jana Kramer’s song “I Got the Boy,” I highly recommend it. It’s as close to explaining how I feel about my relationship as possible, in terms of then and now. Except instead of being the old girlfriend talking about the new one, it’s just the old us vs. the new us. I consider myself lucky that I get both.

It’s the best thing ever to plan a life with my best friend. To not only see the future as partners for every adventure (and misadventure), but also embrace everything that’s gotten us to where we are today, including everything we didn’t do together.

I’ve said on more than one occasion that I would’ve never predicted where my life has taken me the last couple of years. I’m positive that will be a common theme for the rest of my life. I’m just as sure that the highlights will all include sharing it with that same weird Kyle guy who’s kept me the right kind of crazy for every adventure so far.

Vintage crazy. c.2011

*He’s apparently gone mushy in his old age as usually he’s only good for the hug