PURPLE DOOR HOME: Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?

Every year I try to come up with a unique way to celebrate Rod and I's anniversary. I am a gift giver. I express my love for the people in my life through gifts. I hope I express it in other ways too. I like to give and to receive thoughtful gifts. Things that show you really know a person and gifts that are thoughtful and come from the heart. Rod is not a natural gift giver. Yet he shows me every day how much he loves me. We have our moment's (which sometimes turn into days and weeks) where we annoy each other. Sometimes it takes humor or a good old fashioned fight to get over it. Through the good and the bad we never forget how much we love each other!

Have I told you lately that I love you was our first dance song at our wedding. We have the saying on our mantle in our room. A daily reminder to let each other know. I have known Rod since I was 14. We went to high school together. We first dated when we were 16. Our friends who saw Rod in college knew how similar we were and joked that we were going to get back together. It took a trip across country with one of our best friends who I knew since 8th grade and Rod knew since Kindergarten to bring us together in Boulder. Within a few weeks we were dating and within a month we knew we'd get married.

Like every marriage it's been a journey. From living in Boulder, to Rod starting a company in his parents garage with his brother and a friend. From getting engaged in April and married that same August. From grad school and cashing in bottles and cans to take the ferry to visit my mom and Mark on Peak's Island in Maine to our 1st and then 2nd house in Medway both on the same street. From no children to three girls. (Kelsey's name was chosen before we even left Boulder.) From new house to old house. (Our first house was 3 years old and our second house 214 years old). From dreams of a yellow lab named Saona made on a beach in the Dominican to two dogs (Saona is Sadie's full name, and Nola) that we adore. From what ifs and maybes to a dream cottage on a lake. Thank you for marrying me and making my dreams come true! I love you Roderick and everything you have shared with me...

I loved our wedding and all the personal touches that made it so uniquely ours...