It's crazy, but true. Today marks the 23rd year of life for my sweet husband. It's so insane to think that we met and started dating when he was only 19 years old. To see the transformation from what he was when I first met him, to now has been absolutely indescribable.
I'll never forget the first day I met Erik. I walked into the Lifetime Fitness Child Care Center very, very nervous on my first day of work. I walked up to the front desk and who was standing there to greet me? You guessed it, Erik. Only back then, he was terrible with greetings, especially with me. His head immediately dropped and he started swaying back in forth from foot to foot. I said "hi" and asked him if April (our boss) was around so I could start training with her. He told me that he would go get her (in a less than friendly tone), walked back to the back and never came back...and neither did April. That jerk walked off and forgot about me! Eventually, I got someone to help me out while I mentally marked Erik as rude and started my training.
That same week, I was back at LTF using my free gym membership that came with my employment when I saw Erik standing with a bunch of guys in the hallway. I tried again to get him to smile and say hi by smiling, waving and saying "Hey, Erik" which only resulted in him looking at me like I just called him a dirty word or something. What the heck? Why did this kid hate me so much when I'd been nothing but polite and friendly to him? I decided I was done trying to make friends with him and was now just going to learn to live with him and his bad attitude.
The following weekend, we were both scheduled for Saturday. I went in and saw he was working and thought, "Oh crap, it's Erik...AND we're scheduled in the same area. Awesome." Luckily, he was over his bad attitude by then, but I did my best to avoid talking directly to him. I was in a good mood that day and was goofing off with one of our co-workers and the kids and Erik apparently noticed and decided I wasn't so intimidating or whatever he thought I was that made him so weird around me. After he went on his lunch and filled himself to the brim with a candy lunch, he was hyper and being a goofball, which I liked and finally decided that we could be friends.
For the next couple of months, we became work friends and talked at work and nowhere else.
About early November, I was newly single and coming out of a complicated relationship that I still wasn't completely detached from and at the same time, watching my great-grandma, Nannie, who I was very close to, teeter on the edge of her final days. My family had come in from Oklahoma and Minnesota to have an early Thanksgiving for Nannie because the doctors kept assuring us that we were very close to the end and this was our last time to spend with her as an entire family. It was kind of unexpected and I sent out a mass text to co-workers asking for someone to cover some shifts for me so I could spend some time with my family while they were in town. Erik was the only one to respond to me and to help me out. He also decided, now was the time to start talking to and pursuing me, which was very un-Erik like.
So, I'll skip past the boring stuff and get right to it, we started dating and I found out what a sweet guy he was. At the time, he didn't have much planned for his life and was pretty happy working, playing video games, and basically coasting. I saw so much potential in him because I and everyone else knew how smart , how friendly (when he would open up to you), and how great with kids and at his job he was. He was such an awesome person who just seemed kind of off the path of life.
He was always so sweet to me (besides the first couple times, which I never really learned the meaning behind) and he always showed that he genuinely cared about me and any person that he met. When Nannie did pass on in early December, he was there for me 100% and supported me in every way. When we got back from the funeral in Ballinger, Texas, he took me to a really great dinner because he said I deserved it and needed it. Who does that? Who knows exactly how to make you feel better when you've just had such a tragic thing happen in your life? I'm so grateful that he cared so much about me and only wanted to see me feel better and smile, mostly because it worked.
I didn't realize it at the time, but he had already started taking care of me. He's always been there to take care of me and love me through the best and the worst. He's never wavered. Even when I was dealing with a previous relationship that was clearly dead, although I wasn't ready to let go of it. He gave me my time and helped me figure it out. He has always been my shoulder to lean on and my number one person to talk to, free of judgment.
He has always been my rock and loved me unconditionally. He didn't care about the mistakes I'd made in my past. He didn't care that I had done more wrong things than right. He didn't care that I was still trying to figure life out and decide what in the world I wanted to do with it. He chose me and I know now that I'm the luckiest girl in the world. I just wish it hadn't taken me so long to see it!
We kept dating until I went to school at Stephen F. Austin State, where we both were trying to figure out if we were going to stay together. He and my parents drove me out to school, where he hugged me so tight and cried when it was time to leave. It was the sweetest thing, ever.
A few days later, it hit me like a Mack truck. I was supposed to be with him, no matter the distance. This boy loved me and had proven it over and over. He had never hurt me. He had never lied to me. He had never abandoned me. He was always 100% there for me and loved me. He had purely and whole-heartedly loved me. So, I called him and did something I'd never done before. I asked him to be mine, exclusively. We were both so excited from that point on and saw each other every single weekend.
When I finally decided to dive in, it seemed so natural and completely right. We both felt like this relationship was THE relationship, but I needed to get through more school before we made anymore decisions towards marriage, which changed very quickly when SURPRISE! We were going to have a baby in June!
Although, we were completely surprised, to say the least, we both knew we wanted to get married. It was just IF we could get married. Luckily, we both have a great set of parents who helped us throw together a wedding pretty quick in order to get used to living together and being married before the baby got here.
We lived with my parents, which wasn't like living with parents because I have awesome parents...but it was still hard, especially as newlyweds and being an emotional, pregnant mess. Erik soon found a job at Jimmy Johns while I worked at Children's Courtyardand and continued at a local community college. It started out really hard, but we soon got the flow of things and I feel like that very tight, rough beginning of our marriage made it so great. Erik taught me that arguing did not have to include yelling or angry words. He taught me that he would understand and listen to what I was saying just as well if I talked to him at a normal level. He taught me that no matter how irrational and emotional I was being, he was still going to hold me while I cried over how fat my feet and face were getting. He taught me that he was going to love me no matter what. He never wavered. Not once.
That same week, I was back at LTF using my free gym membership that came with my employment when I saw Erik standing with a bunch of guys in the hallway. I tried again to get him to smile and say hi by smiling, waving and saying "Hey, Erik" which only resulted in him looking at me like I just called him a dirty word or something. What the heck? Why did this kid hate me so much when I'd been nothing but polite and friendly to him? I decided I was done trying to make friends with him and was now just going to learn to live with him and his bad attitude.
The following weekend, we were both scheduled for Saturday. I went in and saw he was working and thought, "Oh crap, it's Erik...AND we're scheduled in the same area. Awesome." Luckily, he was over his bad attitude by then, but I did my best to avoid talking directly to him. I was in a good mood that day and was goofing off with one of our co-workers and the kids and Erik apparently noticed and decided I wasn't so intimidating or whatever he thought I was that made him so weird around me. After he went on his lunch and filled himself to the brim with a candy lunch, he was hyper and being a goofball, which I liked and finally decided that we could be friends.
For the next couple of months, we became work friends and talked at work and nowhere else.
About early November, I was newly single and coming out of a complicated relationship that I still wasn't completely detached from and at the same time, watching my great-grandma, Nannie, who I was very close to, teeter on the edge of her final days. My family had come in from Oklahoma and Minnesota to have an early Thanksgiving for Nannie because the doctors kept assuring us that we were very close to the end and this was our last time to spend with her as an entire family. It was kind of unexpected and I sent out a mass text to co-workers asking for someone to cover some shifts for me so I could spend some time with my family while they were in town. Erik was the only one to respond to me and to help me out. He also decided, now was the time to start talking to and pursuing me, which was very un-Erik like.
So, I'll skip past the boring stuff and get right to it, we started dating and I found out what a sweet guy he was. At the time, he didn't have much planned for his life and was pretty happy working, playing video games, and basically coasting. I saw so much potential in him because I and everyone else knew how smart , how friendly (when he would open up to you), and how great with kids and at his job he was. He was such an awesome person who just seemed kind of off the path of life.
He was always so sweet to me (besides the first couple times, which I never really learned the meaning behind) and he always showed that he genuinely cared about me and any person that he met. When Nannie did pass on in early December, he was there for me 100% and supported me in every way. When we got back from the funeral in Ballinger, Texas, he took me to a really great dinner because he said I deserved it and needed it. Who does that? Who knows exactly how to make you feel better when you've just had such a tragic thing happen in your life? I'm so grateful that he cared so much about me and only wanted to see me feel better and smile, mostly because it worked.
I didn't realize it at the time, but he had already started taking care of me. He's always been there to take care of me and love me through the best and the worst. He's never wavered. Even when I was dealing with a previous relationship that was clearly dead, although I wasn't ready to let go of it. He gave me my time and helped me figure it out. He has always been my shoulder to lean on and my number one person to talk to, free of judgment.
He has always been my rock and loved me unconditionally. He didn't care about the mistakes I'd made in my past. He didn't care that I had done more wrong things than right. He didn't care that I was still trying to figure life out and decide what in the world I wanted to do with it. He chose me and I know now that I'm the luckiest girl in the world. I just wish it hadn't taken me so long to see it!
We kept dating until I went to school at Stephen F. Austin State, where we both were trying to figure out if we were going to stay together. He and my parents drove me out to school, where he hugged me so tight and cried when it was time to leave. It was the sweetest thing, ever.
A few days later, it hit me like a Mack truck. I was supposed to be with him, no matter the distance. This boy loved me and had proven it over and over. He had never hurt me. He had never lied to me. He had never abandoned me. He was always 100% there for me and loved me. He had purely and whole-heartedly loved me. So, I called him and did something I'd never done before. I asked him to be mine, exclusively. We were both so excited from that point on and saw each other every single weekend.
When I finally decided to dive in, it seemed so natural and completely right. We both felt like this relationship was THE relationship, but I needed to get through more school before we made anymore decisions towards marriage, which changed very quickly when SURPRISE! We were going to have a baby in June!
Although, we were completely surprised, to say the least, we both knew we wanted to get married. It was just IF we could get married. Luckily, we both have a great set of parents who helped us throw together a wedding pretty quick in order to get used to living together and being married before the baby got here.
We lived with my parents, which wasn't like living with parents because I have awesome parents...but it was still hard, especially as newlyweds and being an emotional, pregnant mess. Erik soon found a job at Jimmy Johns while I worked at Children's Courtyardand and continued at a local community college. It started out really hard, but we soon got the flow of things and I feel like that very tight, rough beginning of our marriage made it so great. Erik taught me that arguing did not have to include yelling or angry words. He taught me that he would understand and listen to what I was saying just as well if I talked to him at a normal level. He taught me that no matter how irrational and emotional I was being, he was still going to hold me while I cried over how fat my feet and face were getting. He taught me that he was going to love me no matter what. He never wavered. Not once.
When Londyn got here, he transformed. He transformed into such an incredible father and an even better husband. He got his current job soon after she was born and gave us the step up that we had been waiting for. He was going to make enough for me to be able to stay home with Londyn and go to school AND get us into our own place. He worked so hard for us and still does. He blew his new employer out of the water by doing above and beyond what he was asked, always looking for new things to learn, and always volunteering for overtime and extra work. He's continued to do so and it's definitely paid off.
We moved out shortly after our first anniversary and have been in the same place since. He has continued to grow and become a man who would have been completely unrecognizable to him just 3 years ago. He is such a great support for our family and shows both of us that he loves us so much more than he could probably ever express verbally. He has been dedicated from day one and I know that will absolutely never change.
He was the one to bring me to our church. He helped me learn and grow and never pressured me to join. He simply helped me learn, answered my questions, and taught me how to pray out loud with him. He helped me break my religion barrier and how uncomfortable the topic made me. He helped me find my way and gave me the gift of baptism and the Holy Ghost. I am eternally grateful for this. I can never repay him for what he led me to.
He worked so hard to regain his priesthood and holds it proudly and worthily. He brings so many blessings to our home and does every single thing that he can to make us happy and keep the Spirit present. One day, Londyn will grow to appreciate this as much as I do and I'm so happy to know that's in her future.
He's changed from a shy, lost boy to a confident, hard-working, and hilarious, I might add, man. He makes me laugh like no one else ever has and constantly has something corny, but hilarious to say. My favorite is his "so lame it makes you laugh" joke about the deer. It goes, "What kind of bread does an angry female deer make? Sour dough." Haha It made you laugh didn't it?
I can't tell you the incredible feeling I get watching him change and become exactly what I've always known he was capable of being. I've seen his potential from the beginning, as have his family and friends, and it gives me so much joy seeing him finally realizing that he is smart. He's really good at doing anything he puts his mind to. He knows he's a great father and husband. He knows he's a great provider. He knows that he makes Londyn and I very happy.
I'm so grateful for this man and I'm so happy that I get to spend his 23rd birthday with him. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to watch him grow a little more every year and spend the rest of my life witnessing such an amazing man become even greater.
I love you Erik Sanders and I thank you so much for what you've brought to my life. You've given me two beautiful girls, an incredible marriage, unconditional love, a best friend, and a love I'll never be able to match. I can't wait to be sealed to you for eternity and have the guarantee of having you by my side forever.
We moved out shortly after our first anniversary and have been in the same place since. He has continued to grow and become a man who would have been completely unrecognizable to him just 3 years ago. He is such a great support for our family and shows both of us that he loves us so much more than he could probably ever express verbally. He has been dedicated from day one and I know that will absolutely never change.
He was the one to bring me to our church. He helped me learn and grow and never pressured me to join. He simply helped me learn, answered my questions, and taught me how to pray out loud with him. He helped me break my religion barrier and how uncomfortable the topic made me. He helped me find my way and gave me the gift of baptism and the Holy Ghost. I am eternally grateful for this. I can never repay him for what he led me to.
He worked so hard to regain his priesthood and holds it proudly and worthily. He brings so many blessings to our home and does every single thing that he can to make us happy and keep the Spirit present. One day, Londyn will grow to appreciate this as much as I do and I'm so happy to know that's in her future.
He's changed from a shy, lost boy to a confident, hard-working, and hilarious, I might add, man. He makes me laugh like no one else ever has and constantly has something corny, but hilarious to say. My favorite is his "so lame it makes you laugh" joke about the deer. It goes, "What kind of bread does an angry female deer make? Sour dough." Haha It made you laugh didn't it?
I can't tell you the incredible feeling I get watching him change and become exactly what I've always known he was capable of being. I've seen his potential from the beginning, as have his family and friends, and it gives me so much joy seeing him finally realizing that he is smart. He's really good at doing anything he puts his mind to. He knows he's a great father and husband. He knows he's a great provider. He knows that he makes Londyn and I very happy.
I'm so grateful for this man and I'm so happy that I get to spend his 23rd birthday with him. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to watch him grow a little more every year and spend the rest of my life witnessing such an amazing man become even greater.I love you Erik Sanders and I thank you so much for what you've brought to my life. You've given me two beautiful girls, an incredible marriage, unconditional love, a best friend, and a love I'll never be able to match. I can't wait to be sealed to you for eternity and have the guarantee of having you by my side forever.
2 comments:
What a great tribute to a fantastic husband and father! You two are a fairy tale come true, and I am so glad to be watching it all happen! Love ya both!
Karen
We think you're wonderful too!
Thanks for sharing your feelings about your relationship with our son!
We were touched in our hearts and funny bones.
God bless you both with an everlasting romance.
Dad
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