Our First 5 Years

5 years!

When we first got married that seemed like something so far away. I wondered about what our lives would look like in 5 years, what our "5 year plan" was. It is funny how things you never dreamed of happening just kinda happen over time. That is the beauty of living though, and even more beautiful is getting the chance to share every joy and every heartbreak along the way with someone you love. 

Looking back on the last 5 years has been fun. A little trip down memory lane always seems to make me feel grateful for all the blessings we have received along the way. I definitely feel like we have had things easy at times, but most of that I attribute to our loving and supportive family along with a God to lean on when things get difficult. 

We have been through a lot in five years. Two undergraduate degrees, one doctorate degree, four jobs, two cross country moves, and five apartments! There were some difficult seasons in both our marriage and just with life in general. There will be more, and we would be crazy to think otherwise. But getting married to each other (we both agree, second to our relationship with Jesus) was the best decision we ever made. It is something that even though we fail in our love for each other daily, we have the most amazing example to turn our eyes toward. We have a God who loves us unconditionally. 

We had breakfast at a little cafe this morning after I got off my night shift and talked about some of the best memories we have from each year of our marriage. I thought it would be fun to share some of them with you guys. So here are some of the top memories, good and bad, from our first 5 years married.

2013

We both agreed year one was pretty awesome. Both of us were still in college, Matt just had one semester left. Our apartment was off campus this year and we packed our lunches every day while most of our other friends had meal plans. Looking back it was such a unique experience to be married and in college at the same time. It was different from a lot of people, but we had fun with it!

2014

The second year of marriage is kind of when real life hit us. Matt had graduated and was working 4 jobs to put me through nursing school (the best husband) and I was extremely overwhelmed. This year was my toughest year of school. In addition to a tough year of academics, I tore my ACL playing soccer. A few weeks later I got shingles because of the excess stress my body was under. When it rains, it pours (am I right?). Matt was a saint and so supportive during this season, and our marriage was strengthened through the trials we faced financially, emotionally, mentally, and physically. We became more resilient because of it. 

2015

After the difficult second year of marriage, year three was an absolute blast. We had lots of ups this year. Matt got accepted into grad school, I graduated nursing school, and we moved to Miami. There were definitely hard things that came with moving to a new state, starting at a new school and me getting my nursing career on its feet. But we were ready and excited for all the new things this year brought us.

2016

This year we finally started feeling at home in Miami, but we had a lot of opportunities to travel as well. We took a cruise to the Bahamas, road tripped to the Florida Keys several times, and visited New York City around Christmas time. Matt completed year one of grad school and started his first clinical internship, and I was able to transfer into my desired specialty of ER. All in all, it was an exciting year that we made lots of progress and even more exciting memories. 

2017/18

This most recent year has been filled with almost every type of emotion we could have imagined. Last fall, I started travel nursing and completed contracts in Northern California and Minnesota. During this same timeframe, Matt completed his classroom coursework and began traveling for internships. We spent the first two months together in Northern California before going long distance while he finished his last two rotations in Tampa and Miami. Communicating through a long distance marriage was a challenge that we had not planned on facing, but we made it and are so grateful to be back in the same city. Our spring and summer has been filled with so many new and exciting moments. Matt graduated from PT school, passed boards, we moved to San Francisco with an epic road trip, got an apartment, and both solidified jobs in the city. It has been one of the wildest years yet! 

Photos by @donnaireneweddings