Six Years

Woah you guys -

Today is my and Jake's 6 year anniversary! 

Woo hooooo!

The tradition follows that for your sixth year together the gift is candy (Rock On), so I'm commemorating this as our Candyversary!

Yay us, babe!

I don't usually talk about my relationship in much detail here. 
As a blogger who writes a lot about my personal life, there are certain things I like to keep more private than others, and my relationship is one of them.
However, today I'm going to allow a little crack in those boundaries to delve a little bit into the topic of love and my relationship. 

I fell in love with jake when we were 20 years old. 

Growing up as an only child, I was always dreaming about having someone to hang out with all the time. Someone who would go on adventures with me and surprise me and love me even though they'd seen me at my worst. 

A partner in crime, a Clyde to my Bonnie, a Hobbes to my Calvin.

(Halloween 2013: Calvin and Hobbes)

Then lo and behold, in 2008, I found a guy who's weird matched mine. 

We met in college in the theater department. 
He asked my best friend to set us up. 
She did.
Our first date involved mini-golf, horrible chain restaurant Mexican food, and Some Like it Hot. 

And we've been inseparable ever since. 

In the last six years we've done a lot.

We've traveled through 10 states, multiple islands and 5 different countries. 

We've lived in 3 different homes together, we've cheered each other on and comforted each other. 

We've seen each other through the loss of loved ones, winnings and failures and even food and alcohol poisoning. 

We've shared secrets and coffees and sickness and countless inside jokes.

We've performed in over 30 productions together, and have fallen in love on stage night after night in thousands of performances. (seriously.) 

We've taken MILLIONS of pictures.

It's been amazing.

BUT here's the thing: I'm not here to tell you what a fairytale it's all been.

I'm not here to gush, and ooh and awe, and to tell you that everything has been perfect since that magical first kiss.

It hasn't.

There's no such thing as the perfect relationship. 

I have a real problem with the internet and bloggers and social media all creating the perfect image of how things are, and only highlighting specially chosen moments and creating comparison depression and FOMO. 

So today I'm going to both celebrate how lucky and happy I am, but also set things straight in the internet universe. 

I'm here to tell you that no matter how great people's relationship (And job and life and house and pets and EVERYTHING else you see on the internet) look from the outside, there are always issues. 

We fight.

We make up. 

Relationships are a lot of work. 

But it's worth it. 

(God, I feel like Ben Affleck at the Oscars! Sorry Jen!)

Love changes. 
It does. 
Period. 

You will never recapture exactly what you felt in that first thrilling year, or nervous date or first time in bed. It's a chemical thing.
BUT - 
Love also grows. 
You will gain different and new and wonderful excitations as the relationship wears on, creating new traditions and finding new things to learn and love. 
And THAT is something that's so fulfilling that it's difficult to articulate.

We are two very different people. 
With different interests, ideas and ways of processing things.

But we love each other.

And we like being together.

And we like the same little things. 

Coffee to go, new shoes, sleeping in. 

We like sharing dessert and watching Hulu and drinking beer. 

We like being enthusiastic and wearing costumes and singing loud in the car. 

We're not Beyoncé and Jay-Z, but that's ok. We're just us. 

When you find the love of your life, your work isn't done. 

It's just beginning. 

And that's pretty exciting too. 

You'll find new things to discover and experience and fight about. 
You'll stumble across things to fall in love with together. 

The bad stuff is also the good stuff. 

Things are what you make of them. 

I have the luxury of after 6 years, still being madly in love with my partner.
He surprises me and inspires me and makes me laugh every day. 
He also challenges and infuriates me. 
And that's all good.

Love is strange.

Here's to another six, Chapstick!