3 Year Anniversary!!!

Well, this past week was our 3^rd anniversary. I can't believe it. It has flown by and feels like we just got married a couple months ago. Everything is still fresh and romantic and I am going to try hard to do the little things as long as I live to keep it that way! This year it was my turn to come up with the surprise. (We had already planned to go to Disneyland and Sea World for our anniversary but we aren’t going for another two weeks.) The day was amazing! Shannon got home from work on Wednesday, the 9^th, after I was already gone to school. When he arrived, there was a note on the door that said “Happy Anniversary- go to the TV and press play.” There was a video of me wishing him a happy anniversary and apologizing for not being there with him during the day. Then I sang him a song to let him know how much I loved him. I changed the words a bit to be more fitting.

The Way I Am by Ingrid Michaelson

If you were falling, Then I would catch you.
Need a best friend? Well, we’re quite a match
I love the way you kiss me darlin’
You take me the way I am.
It all began when, you wrote that letter.
And here we are babe, now three years later.
I still love the way you call me baby
And you take me the way I am
I’ll buy you Rogaine, when you start losing all your hair.
I’ll love you forever, and this I swear
Cause I love you more than I could ever promise,
Cause you love me the way I am.
I love you the way I am.
I’m lucky cause, you love me the way I am.

He loved it! He said he watched it a few times. At the end of the video, I told him to go upstairs to the bathroom and check out his next surprise. Our bathtub had rose petals all in the tub and candles surrounded the tub along with a bottle of bubble bath. I told him to relax all day with a good book. I told him then to go to the refrigerator. There were chocolate covered strawberries for him to snack on while he soaked in the tub. There was a package delivered to the house for him. It was a fireman painting he had been wanting. He was so surprised. Then a couple days before our anniversary, I totally surprised him with a full body 90 minute massage at our house. I purchased a massage table from a friend at school and he thought she was just bringing it over, but she was really coming to give him a special massage! He LOVED it. When I came home from school, he had dinner ready and afterwards he took me to a park where we played on the playground and he pushed me in the swings for a while. I love the swings and I haven’t swung since I was 11. It was so fun! When we came home we laid in the floor and talked for a couple hours. It was the most romantic night. We just talked about how much we loved and appreciated each other and our goals and other husband/wife stuff. I told him that I wanted to write him a love letter but I couldn't think of anything original. Then in the car on the way to school that morning of our anniversary, I started crying because it hit me what I should say to him as to why I love him so much. I realized that Shannon was like a savior to me. Although Christ is the ultimate Savior of the world, we can all be miracles and saviors to others along the path of life. I don’t think there was any coincidence that Elder Phillipenas wrote me a letter at the time he did and our friendship flourished. It was in the darkest moments of my life that Shannon provided the only friendship and light in my life. I don’t think I would have been able to make it out of such a dark place in my life without his diligence. Even though Shannon thought his missionary work was done, he didn’t realize that I was his last convert. Although I was a member of the church, it wasn’t until my freshman year of college that I realized I wanted to change my life and be as a child of God should be. Shannon helped me reach that potential to be able to take the sacrament, love myself, realize that God loves me, and eventually be able to marry a wonderful man in the House of the Lord. Shannon rescued me in a time of need. Heavenly Father knew me and my situation and knew I needed a savior to pull me through the dirt, so He sent me Shannon. He is my ultimate hero and has grown to be the love of my life.