That handsome stud and I have been married for ELEVEN years, today.  Crazy, right?

We met in Iuka, Mississippi, at the go-cart track, the summer after I graduated high school. When we were both in high school, we dated siblings. We never actually met, because Justin is six years older than me. So, he dated the girl sibling way before I dated the boy sibling. Anyways, we had all remained super close friends and our exes had a hand in introducing us. Well, their mom did most of the work. (Are you confused yet?)

So one night, the summer after I had graduated high school, my ex-boyfriend (but still friend)’s mom called and invited me to Iuka to watch him and a few other of my good friends race go-carts.  When we got to Iuka (an hour and a half away from where we live), she turned to me, with a gleam in her eye, and said, “By the way, there is someone here I want you to meet.”

After the go-cart races, the whole group stopped by Waffle House for a 1am breakfast.  Over the next few days, Justin called a few times and we would talk more and more each time.  A few weekends later, the same family invited us all to the lake (me, my parents, Justin and his parents) for the July 4th weekend.  After 48 hours together, nonstop, I was head over heels.  On the last day, as I was telling my mom something about Justin, she looked at me and said “I have never seen you like this before.”  It was the closest to love-at-first-sight I have ever heard of. 🙂

Our dating relationship was a whirlwind. One warm weekend in March, at Smith Lake, Justin proposed. A quick 5 months later and we became Mr. and Mrs.  Our wedding was absolutely beautiful.  Shout-out to my mom, who spent hours and hours making sure everything was perfect. There was standing room only in the church. We honeymooned in Jamaica.

These past eleven years have been hard. I don’t want to give the illusion that marriage is easy–we are two, flawed humans trying to make a go at this family thing.  We argue and scream and I’ve been so mad I didn’t even want to look at him, but we’re committed. We are in it for the long haul. We’ve been through three babies, one miscarriage, one cancer-scare, and three houses. I couldn’t imagine doing life with anyone else!

So here’s to many more years together. I love you with my whole heart,  Justin West!