Happy Anniversary

Tomorrow marks the fifth year of the relationship that exists between Alex and me. Two years before marriage... Two years after...nearly a year separated.. and nearly a year divorced. Needless to say, it has been an interesting experience in which we have both learned and grown a lot.

I can honestly say that we are the best we have ever been. I personally feel more comfortable with our relationship; how I am in our relationship. We still have a lot of things to work on, either to find resolve or compromise... mostly involving the differences in how we handle situations or view things. Luckily, though they are sometimes difficult to talk about, these things aren't deal breakers. We have the understanding, which has been the understanding the entire time, that we love each other and we want to be together. It's just that now we realize we actually have to work, and work together, to make it work. I think we knew that before.. that it takes work to make things work... we just didn't know if it would work with us, how things were.

I believe that the break we had from each other in 2011 was a good one. I mean, it was really trying... we both cried a lot... we yelled a lot. We did things to piss each other off. We did things to manipulate each other. We slept alone, in separate houses, and we called each other when we were lonely. And we made peace with not being with each other. Then, after filing for divorce, we decided that we wanted to be together. Not that we were wrong for separating or having this time apart, but that we were ready to commit to each other again. We really needed that time, that space away from each other, physically and emotionally, to say these things, to do these things, to test each other outside of the trust of the marriage, to rebuild what we wanted "us" to be.

So, here we are five years deep and just really beginning our lives as adults. Things have really begun to look up for us as a couple and as individuals. I still believe that everything happens for a reason, and we are where we're at in life for a reason... to teach us something that will prepare us for something bigger in the future.

Congrats to us for doing what was best for us at every stage in our relationship, even though it might not have been the easiest or the most popular decisions, and coming out of it better people and partners. And here's to the future of trailblazing our own way through this journey.