6 Years and Counting

6 Years ago Brent was madder than a hatter at me, but he drove to the Temple that morning anyway and still went through with the wedding. Just for the record, my side of the story is also pretty interesting (to be saved for another post, if ever ;) ). We had a rocky (to put it mildly) engagement. However, previous to this, our dating story was glittered with a well knit tale, "the top 10 love stories of all time" as recounted by Brent. He, (much like Scheherazade) prolonged the narrative throughout our entire courtship, starting at 10 and counting down, giving me a story here and a story there until before you knew it I was hanging on his every word. He saved No. 1 for the proposal, unveiling the most beautiful love story of all time as we sat in a car being pounded by the winter rain. It was a dramatic story full of heartache, an account out of the journal of Anthony Thatcher of his experience being shipwrecked in 1635. Anthony's four children literally drowned in front of his very eyes with their little arms reaching out for him to save them. The only survivors of the wreck were Anthony himself and his wife, who was also washed up onto the shore of what eventually became known as Thatcher Island (off the coast of Massachusetts). Once rescued they literally started all over, in a new home, in a new land, building a new family. They had only each other and their strong faith in God to cleave to for support.
Brent read out of the journal of Anthony the first hand account, then looked at me and said "This is the greatest love story of all time because it's not about a romantic love, an illusion behind rose-colored glasses that eventually dries up when life gets hard. It's about a love of commitment, a love that is a choice, a love that is real. A love that says "life is going to throw us curve balls, and I'm in it with you for the long haul".
And he has been. Brent and I have had some interesting things come our way. We haven't (from the beginning of our engagement to now) had the most conventional choices cross our path. Our journey has been easier than some, harder than some, and uniquely ours. It's been full of adventure and craziness and I've known through it all that Brent is with me through it for the long haul. I strive every day to show him I match his loyalty 100%.

Since that beautiful day 6 years ago, our journey has included:

• Living in the worlds coolest SOHO apartment, complete with the bathroom OUTSIDE the apartment and down the hall, and yes, the above-ground-not-enclosed bathtub was conveniently located directly next to the kitchen stove: cook and shower at the same time!
• Moving a total of FIVE times, once into my grandma's basement for 6 weeks before unexpectedly moving all over again into my other grandparent's basement, where Brent (not even four months after joining the family) continued to live alone attending to their needs as I attended a summer music festival.
• Completing a masters degree and having a baby
• Living in New York City, Utah, and California for extended periods of time, and Colorado and France for short periods of time.
• Buying our first house
• Remodeling the house room by room with our four bare hands
• Going through the process of building up and letting go of a wonderful violin studio.
• Completely changing career paths three times.
• Living in separate states twice and another country once, for a grand total of 25 months (just over two years, interspersed) of commuting back and forth to see each other and working to make it work. This isn't something I see as a badge of honor, nor is it something I would ever recommend. But it's something we did, fighting through all the hard stuff that's associated with it to succeed.
• Selling our first house
• Buying two amazing quarter horses
• Living in a one-bedroom apartment in, yes, a nursing home.
• Riding elephants in Thailand, running rivers in Colorado, dining with the King of Denmark at his summer home in southern France, hauling a horse from Utah to Montana, hiking in the Tetons, scuba diving in Mexico, backpacking through Idaho and Utah, and my favorite: riding a cattle round-up at the base of Waterton National Park in Canada.

However, the single biggest accomplishment has been watching Brent climb the huge uphill mountain of taking over this new job. At 41 he decided to start all over again in pursuit of a career he had passion about. Most, I think, wouldn't have had such courage. We set out on a path of trial and error until we found one that felt right, but left us standing at what seemed like an impossible beginning. 15 months of training (and commuting) later, he entered this new field to take a failing building and turn it around under public pressure as everyone watched. He was new, overwhelmed, and up against the impossible. Not even one year later he's a different man, full of confidence and leadership that I've seen steadily build. In the toughest market he literally has had handfuls of people "join" his team, only to quit a few months later because of how much harder it was than they thought it would be. But Brent has been tenacious. Before Brent came into the building, it was rated 2 (out of 5) stars on quality of care - quite poor. Yesterday they were given a new star rating - 5 out of 5 for the best possible rating; a direct result of Brent's non-stop hard work and vision. He is the hardest working person I know, it leaves me watching every day with amazement.

The last six years have been a fantastic ride with so many unexpected twists and turns. I can not imagine doing it without Brent, I'm so grateful that he chose me.
Happy Anniversary China Man. Here's to the next 70.