On April 18 Chad and I celebrated meeting and becoming a couple for 16 years. This anniversary is significant to me because I was 16 when I met Chad, we've now been together for half of my life! It feels impossible. Time is flying by faster than I could have ever imagined! When I was 16, I was a junior at Leander High School and working at Fazoli's. Chad came in one evening with three other mutual friends who wanted to say hi to me and it was love at first sight. I never would have dreamed that our lives would be forever changed from that first meeting. In our 16 years we have had many ups and downs and a lot of sacrifice. The first 10 years of our relationship was full of hard work, school and sacrifice. They were not easy, they were not always happy. Totally worth it, but hard. The hard work, dedication and sacrifice have started paying off in the past few years, we are so thankful! We love being able to spend so much time together and watching our kids grow together. We are both very active in our kids lives and we are able to have so much freedom thanks to those first 10+ years of school, work and sacrifice. I appreciate what Chad has done to make our lives so great and wake up everyday stress free and excited about all of our futures.
I know I've written a few times about how we have made a very conscious choice to eliminate negative people from our lives (regardless if they are friends or family) and keep company in people who add something positive to our lives, no drama or expectations. We have some pretty incredible friends and family and we appreciate each and every one of them! I am certain that life is so great for us in large part due to the people we surround ourselves with. I am just as confident that we are better people, happier people due to the tough choices we have made to remove certain people from our lives. We have removed people that were negative, stressful and not good for our family. For some it was difficult at first but very liberating and freeing, for some it was very easy. Our family and friends that we surround ourselves with say a lot about us and we couldn't be happier with the group that we have, they are all seriously great, authentic people who we have a lot in common with.
Recently more than ever I've noticed the ebb and flow of friendships that mean a lot to me. I still love these friends immensely but we don't seem to get much time together due to what is going on in our individual lives. It is important to me that they know that even if we can't get together as often as we would like to or used to, they still mean so much to me. Friendships change and that is ok, it doesn't mean I feel any different or care for them any less but life happens and circumstances change. We will all get together when it works out!
Since my last post I've had so much fun re-connecting with a high school friend, going to birthday celebrations, going to concerts and making memories with my family! I was lucky enough to go to the Bryan Adams concert with one of my very best friends, Janine, for her birthday and just last night I took my daughters to see the Ellie Goulding concert. Both were such a great time and fantastic music!
My life this week consisted of Chad taking Monday off to spend with me for our 16 year "together" anniversary, Tuesday I went to a yoga class, met with my sweet friend Kim for lunch and then took my daughters to the EG concert. Today (Wednesday) Chad and I had an early breakfast at Torchy's, I'm (currently) getting my mani/pedi and then I'll start baking treats for a festival for our elementary school this weekend. Tomorrow I'll finish baking and spend part of the day with my friend Jessica and then on Friday I'll be spending the day with my son and his Kindergarten class on his field trip.
My life is always busy but in the best ways, I am so lucky to be spending my time doing things that make me feel fulfilled and happy.
If I knew 16 years ago when I met Chad how my life would be now I wouldn't have believed it. My 18 year old raver, purpled hair boyfriend has become the best man I could have ever dreamed of. I'm very proud of what we have accomplished in our first 16 years and am so excited to find out what the next 60 hold!
Until next time, count your blessings! :)
Sara
