A Year of Love

I can’t believe that’s it’s already been a year! One year ago today Sterling asked me to marry him! It was a year ago that we went to a corn maze and for just a fun Saturday ended up at JMU for a night of reminiscing. It was a year ago today that we parked and walked around JMU at night while it was lit up so pretty and talked about all the fun we had when we first started our relationship. It was a year ago today that Sterling ignored an Ole Miss game while we ate dinner (which should have been a give away). And then at 10pm one year ago today Sterling and I sat down on the quad looking at Wilson Hall and he asked me to marry him. It was magical.

It has been one crazy year let me tell you. Not only did we get engaged but we hit a bunch of other fun and new milestones.

We spent the holidays together for the first time and traded time with each family. It was different than what we were used to but nice to get to do something new together. While in New Jersey for Thanksgiving we went to the Macy’s Day Parade which Sterling had never done before, we all woke up crazy early and braved the cold to make sure we got a good spot for him – and then we realized that unlike us, he was tall enough to see everything perfectly clear – no matter where we stood. 🙂

Christmas in Charlottesville was extra special because we got to see Cora’s excitement along with everyone else! We got to dance around the christmas dinner table with her singing “I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas!”

Fast forward to the spring and Sterling defended his dissertation! I’ll never forget how proud I was (and still am) of him. A Ph.D. is not for the weak of heart or mind – Sterling never gave up and worked harder than anyone I know to complete his goal. After defending he landed himself a great job as a clinical director and graduated with his Ph.D. all in a matter of a few weeks!

Fast forward a bit more and I got a new job as an Instructional Technology Resource Teacher and switched schools – two weeks before the wedding!

Oh yeah and we got married!!! The past 365 days since Sterling asked me to marry him have been stressful at times, brilliant at others, but all around one of the best years of my life. No matter the tears, stress, laughter or excitement the best part of this year was that we did it all together. 🙂

Enjoy some of our official photos from the year starting with our memories from a year ago today!

The Engagement (because – oh yeah – I never blogged it!)