Hi Sunshine,

You are the one person that I have not fully written an article about yet. I wanted to save it for when I new I could make it as special as possible because you of all people deserve it. As of today, we have been dating on and off for the last three and a half years. It's still bittersweet to me to know that it'll be four in September. I am so happy to say that we beat the odds, we fought through the hard times we had to go through together but now we are only stronger because of it. Remember when people in high school used to hate us together? Remember when your family had a hard time liking me at first? Today, I can say that all of that was worth being yours.

For those that don't know out story, I'm going to catch them up, if you don't mind! So second semester of my junior year in high school I transferred high schools. SO glad that one happened! We met in Spanish class. He sat in the front row right next to the door, and I sat four or five seats behind you next to my first friend from that school. I was crushing hard core on one of his friends, and didn't really notice him at all. Weeks went on, and he had gotten my number. We talked on and off for awhile, and at one point I had a choice. I had two movie tickets, and I had told my mom about this guy at school that I was crushing on, and I told her about the one that I met in Spanish. I asked, "Mom which one should I ask to the movie?" She said the guy I met in Spanish. Little did I know that decision would change my life.

After asking Spanish boy to the movie, I had gotten all made up and tried looking nice, but not too nice because I didn't want him to think I liked him or anything. I got to the theater, and waited almost a half-hour for this guy. We walked in, and didn't say one word to each other the whole time. After the movie was done, I expected a nice conversation or at least a "thank you, I had fun." but all I got was, "Well, see ya Monday!" Wow was that awkward! To my knowledge, he must have gone on dates and known how to act on a date, right? Wrong.

Due to the most awkward date in all of history, I didn't talk to Spanish boy for weeks. We picked it back up a few months later and talked throughout the beginning of summer. When he was in California with his family, he had sent me a picture of a purple flower saying, "I thought you'd enjoy this." Now me being the romantic I am, I thought that was just adorable. He took time out of his day to send me a picture of my favorite colored flower. At this point, after how long we had been getting to know each other, I was hard core falling for this boy. I didn't want him to know that though. I didn't want anyone to know.

July 31st, 2014 we went on a McDonalds date with our mutual friend. I had asked him to come along because I didn't want a reenactment of Spanish boy and I's first date. It actually went really well, and we had planned more days to hang out - alone - after that. Come September, Spanish boy and I went out canoeing with his family. Let me acknowledge you that I was no where near a nature person prior to being in this family. Camping was the extent of my outings. We hung out at his house a few times too, and that brings us to the night he asked me to be his girlfriend. We were camping at his house with his family, and him and I went inside to watch a movie. It was around 2 a.m. and he asked me if I'd like to be his girlfriend. At that point, it wasn't a huge deal because I had already felt as though we were together emotionally. The label didn't mean much more.

Throughout our relationship, we had broken up a few times. I can only think of one or two times that we broke up because of each other, and the other times were outside influences we let affect our relationship. Word of advice to you all, don't let anyone tell you how to live or run your relationship. My boyfriend and I had let that happen five too many times and it ruined us. Back to the history of Spanish boy and I, there is truly nothing more heart-wrenching than trying to get your potential family to like you. Conflicting religious beliefs, morals, and valuable lessons really makes it hard for two teens to fall in love. So add that family drama, on top of our personal friends talking badly about our relationship to each other just made us very stressed. Both of us have such huge hearts and really value our family and friends opinions but at that point, we were on our own. Our families came from two polar opposite backgrounds and it was tough at first to compromise actions and work together on different things. I can tell you though that his family has changed my life for the better, and opened my eyes up to so many new things and I will forever be thankful for that.

When we hit college age, I had stayed at St. Cloud State University for my first year, him following me his last semester of his senior year for PSEO. That distance prior to us both being up there wasn't the best, and we had figured out that if we want to be together, we have to be in the same city. There wasn't anything wrong with that either, it's just another trait of our relationship that we had figured out together. Our second year of college was up in Duluth, at UMD. We had some difficulties getting into the swing of things up here being three hours from home, trying to find new friends, and focusing on us. Who wouldn't? It was hard being judged and taken down for that because we really did try our hardest, but when two people already don't have a shot in hell from their "support group", how are they to succeed?

Now, we are still living in Duluth, with our dog Maverick. We have stuck out the hard times, and are happier than ever. Another word of advice, become best friends with the person that you want to spend your life with prior to being with them. It makes all the difference in the world.

So sunshine, thank you for sticking this out with me. Thank you for never giving up on us, and continuing to be my best friend every day. Thank you for sharing the love of Monty Python, Bob's Burgers, & Brickleberry with me. Thank you for always wanting to explore, and jam out to ACDC or Guns & Roses with me. Or really any music for that matter. Thank you for allowing me to obsess over Tangled to you without getting annoyed. Thank you for supporting me with only wanting to be a mommy in life, and being OK with it. Thank you for accepting my family and treating them like your own. Thank you for being such a good doggy-daddy to Mav. Thank you for being able to agree to disagree on the taste of peach pie. Thank you for teaching me something new daily and always expanding my car knowledge. Thank you for being the optimist in this relationship. Thank you for not only swing dancing, but wanting to learn how to swing dance with me. Thank you for being so selfless and caring.

I really don't know what I would do if I didn't have you by my side. You're not only my person, but my best friend, soul mate, and lover. You are so good to me and for me. I don't care what anyone says anymore. I want them to know that we are together - still. I want them to know that we are stronger than we were and that nothing can break us now. Expect Maverick, I will always pick him over you. (hehe!) But I think we're done feeling like we have to prove ourselves to everyone around us. I'm pretty sure those who do matter to us, they already support and love us regardless of what has happened.

Thank you for being my steady. I can't wait to grow old with you.

I love you and always will,

Me