So, I am an avid reader.  As I have had plenty of extra time on my hands this week taking care of my hubby, who had his gallbladder removed on Monday, I finished two books.  The first was "The Lucky One" by Nicholas Sparks.  In my younger days, Nicholas Sparks was one of my absolute favorite authors.  When I read "The Notebook" (which still happens to be one of my all-time favorite books), I was completely in awe of him.  Now that almost every one of his books has been made into a movie, I've kind of strayed from him.  His books are still good, but just not what they used to be.  I will say, though, that "The Lucky One" was a pleasant, easy read.  I enjoyed it.

Then I read "The Vow," which, ironically, has also inspired a movie.  I also watched the movie itself yesterday, which ended up having very little resemblance to the true story, but was still good.  In case you've been living in a cave, the true story is about a couple who had been married for just three months or so when they were involved in a near-fatal car accident that left the wife with severe brain trauma.  When she awoke from her coma, she did not remember her husband or that she was married.  She was missing about a year or so's worth of memories.  However, they decided to make an attempt to be true to their vows and they somehow made it work.  Pretty awesome true story, but really sad and painful in some parts, as well. 

I read all of this just after celebrating my twelve year anniversary with my hubby this past Sunday.  It is so crazy how time flies.  Hubby and I a little less than a year and a half before getting married.  I am NOT a hopeless romantic, nor do I believe in love at first sight.  But, I have to be honest, the first night I went out with him, I knew that I was in trouble.  I had been single for less than a year after a previous three year relationship.  The other relationship had been with my first love, and it had left me terribly heart-broken.  I was not looking for a relationship when I found the hubby, and I was, in fact, dating three or four other guys at the time.  (No, I was not any of the nasty names that you may be thinking, but I was simply not ready to be serious or commit myself to anyone.)  That all changed the night I met the hubby.  Within two weeks of meeting him, I had told all of the other guys I'd been dating that I was done with them.  Not that I was ready to jump into anything with the Hubby just yet, but I didn't want to be distracted either.  I found myself wanting to spend all of my free time with him. 

We were together for about six months or so before he decided to break up with me.  I was heart-broken, but we hadn't said the "L" word yet, and I was different this time around.  While it hurt, I was at peace with his decision.  I didn't want to be with him if he didn't want to be with me.  And, if I'm being totally honest, I just somehow knew, deep down inside of me, that he was my "One."  I was able to let him go and walk away because something in me told me that it was all going to be okay.  We had worked together almost since the beginning of our relationship, and we continued to work together after our break-up.  We got along fine, and even managed to still hang out together with our friends on a couple of occasions. 

In a little more than a month, he came back to me.  Our relationship the second time around was significantly different--more mature, more defined, stronger.  It was less than a month after getting back together that we said the "L" word for the first time.  And we were married about eight months later. 

We've been through a lot, but we're so much stronger for it.  We've been blessed by God with two beautiful little boys.  Somehow, God has ALWAYS watched out for us.  Just when we get to a point where we're looking at each other going, "What are we going to do?  How are we going to get through this?", God makes something happen that not only fixes our problem, but puts us in a better place all around. 

It's crazy that we were born fifteen months apart in two cities that were less than two hours from each other.  Yet, it took us 21 years and 500 miles further south to find each other.  We're so different, yet so much alike.  We definitely complement and fill each other's gaps.  I AM "the LUCKY ONE." 

When I was reading (and watching) "The Vow", I was thinking about the vows I said on that day twelve years ago.  They were your standard, repeat after the preacher, vows.  And I meant every word of them.  Today, if I could do it over again, my vows would be the same, but I think I'd probably take a shot at writing them myself.  They'd go something like this.....

"I vow that for the rest of your life, you will always have a partner in me.  I vow to be your best friend, your soul mate, your secret-keeper, your defender, and your protector.  I vow that when you face obstacles, you will not face them alone.  I will forever be by your side.  I vow to be faithful to you--you will never have to worry about me straying or look for hidden meaning or truth behind anything I say.  I vow to be the best mother to your children that I can possibly be.  I vow to take your family as my own, and to love and honor and respect them the way that I do my own family.  I vow to consider you and our family first in everything that I do.  I vow to keep God first in our relationship, so that our love of each other might be a reflection of the unconditional love that God has for us.  I vow that, for the rest of our days, you will never be alone.  I will always be standing beside you, holding your hand, loving you through anything and everything that life has to offer us, both good and bad.  I vow to love you for the rest of my life." 

As I read the stories (especially the true ones) of love that wins despite even the most horrific of circumstances, I am in awe of those couples.  You never know what you'd do in a situation as horrible as the ones that the couple in "The Vow" had to overcome.  But, I admire them.  I hope and pray that the Hubby and I will never have to be put in that situation, but I have no doubt that we will continue to have our own obstacles that we will have to go through together.  I know that, as long as we keep God first, we will be able to get through whatever life hands at us.  I am extremely proud to be my husband's wife.  I am extremely grateful that God allowed me to find my "One."  He truly was worth the wait and everything that I had to get through in my life to find him.  I hope that we can live out the legacy of all of our grandparents and be a beacon of hope to our children that love really can, and does, last.  In a world where marriages mean little to anyone anymore, it still means something very significant to me. 

Thanks, God, for the blessing of my Hubby.  I am the lucky one.