You're everything ? f00dventures

Grad school has really opened my eyes, in more ways than one. It got me thinking about?relationships. Odd thing to think about when you?re pursuing grad school. But it made me realize how lucky I am to have Edward in my life. He has been so supportive and been there for me every step of the way throughout our relationship. Through every career change resulting in my staying in college a few *ahem* years longer than needed, he was there for me. He was there for me when not just 1 but both of my dogs had to be put down within a years time. He was there for me when I was not matched with a dietetic internship resulting in possibly the second worst day of my life (losing my dogs, Duddley and Gabby, were the worst days of my life). And Edward has remained there for me while I subject myself to grad school. He supported my decision to return to school even though that would mean putting ourselves further into debt. He has been there through thick and thin and has always remained positive and optimistic. While I am the ?cup half empty? type, he is the ?cup half full? type. We complement each other, balance each other out.? We have survived *almost* 7 years together. I?m not going to say it was always easy. It is true when they say that relationships are work. But I truly believe that anything worthwhile, is also worth fighting for. It seems my generation likes to just call it quits when things get tough. I don?t believe in that. I believe that Edward and I were truly meant to be together. It may sound corny but I also believe in destiny. Edward found me at a time when I really needed someone to be there for me. So before I get into the rest of my post, I would like to start off with how Edward and I actually met.
Back in 2005 Edward and I were both working at a mall (my parents owned a restaurant in the mall and I worked for them). I will admit that I had a huge crush on him for quite awhile. We had worked across the hall from each other for a few years and the employees at GNC were a hot topic amongst the employees I worked with. They were all something to look at but Edward was something special. I first noticed him when I was, god, I want to say 16? I want to say I was junior in high school. I remember immediately after seeing him spilling my new crush to my best friend at the time while on the way to school. He was that ?hot, unattainable guy?. You know, the guy that everybody has a crush on but you?re too afraid to talk to him because why would he look at you when he could have his pick of any girl? That was my thinking anyway. I was the shy girl in high school. The one that sat in the back of the classroom and doodled on her notebooks. Most of the people I went to school with probably didn?t even know I existed much less knew my name. I never got asked out by guys, I attended my first prom dateless and the only reason I had a date to my senior prom was because I asked my best guy friend to take me. I didn?t really have my first real boyfriend until I was 18/19. Anyway, it all started with that first boyfriend. Let?s just say I was naive. He was my first boyfriend so I didn?t know what to expect when it came to relationships. I thought I was really in love and I thought he and I would get married one day. Problem was, he was still in high school when we first started dating. We were together about 7 months when he finally graduated. I had been out of high school for a year at this point so I was over my crazy ?let?s party it up? lifestyle (that lasted about 2 seconds). My boyfriend however, was just getting started. He was 18 and a high school graduate. He was ready to party and live it up. Problem was, he had a girlfriend. He remedied this pretty quickly by telling me he wanted ?to go on a break?. The dreaded ?let?s go on a break? that is typically code for ?I want to sleep around?. I believed him when he said he just wanted to hang out with his guy friends and just live life a little. I also believed him when he said that he wasn?t going to date anybody else. We had made a pact to give each other a month of space before reuniting. All of my coworkers warned me about what this would mean. I just waved it off and said it was fine. If he wanted to live a little, fine, I trusted him. Well, silly me, I should have listened to my coworkers. I found out not from 1, not from 2, but from 3 of my boyfriend?s friends that he was cheating on me. Except in my boyfriend?s eyes, he was not cheating because, you guessed it, ?we were on a break?. It didn?t matter to me if we were on a break or not. He broke my heart. I was pretty much damaged goods by that point. I was a wreck. I was working every chance I got so I wouldn?t have to sit at home and feel sorry for myself. Working kept my mind off of what my now ex-boyfriend had done. He tried apologizing and was actually in shock (seriously, the nerve) when I told him I wanted nothing to do with him, I wanted him to take back all of his things, and I never wanted to speak to him again. He seriously thought I was so in love with him that I would just take him back. Anyway, I was at work one night feeling sorry for myself and wanting to just beat the crap out of every guy I saw when Edward saw me and asked me what was wrong. Remember, this was the hot guy that I had pretty much drooled over since I was about 16. The fact that Edward genuinely seemed concerned really got to me. I told him the whole story and despite my obvious baggage, Edward still gave me his number and told me to call him if I ever needed to talk. That?s how it all started. We started talking on the phone. We started hanging out at work. We started hanging out outside of work. And then we officially started dating August 16, 2005. I admit I was a little afraid at first because my ex-boyfriend was not the only guy who had done me wrong in the past. Just because I never had a real boyfriend until I was 18/19 doesn?t mean I hadn?t had my fair share of run-ins with jerks. Even though Edward seemed like a genuinely good guy, I was still skeptical of guys, especially after what had happened with my ex. But Edward proved himself and over time I realized I had never even known what love was when I was with my ex. Edward showed me what it really felt like to be loved.I feel like it was destiny that brought us together. We got together just in time because about a week after we got together, my parent?s ended up closing the restaurant. Had things worked out just a little differently, Edward and I most likely wouldn?t have started talking. Destiny.

7 years later, I?m even more in love with him now that I was when we first got together. Which is why every year, I try do something especially special for him on our anniversary.I also like to do special things for his birthday and Christmas but our anniversary is special to me.

One year I made him a scrapbook (pictured below, it has grown considerably since I first started it):

Another year I attempted *key word here, attempted* to make him lasagna from scratch, one of his favorite foods. It didn?t really turn out well but Edward seemed to appreciate the gesture. Another year I made him a collage of pictures of us over the years:

Needless to say, after 7 years of being together (remember a lot of birthdays, anniversaries, and Christmases have passed at this point) and it starts to get hard to come up with new things to do. Edward specifically likes me to make things for him rather than buy things (I think he appreciates the effort that goes into homemade gifts). So this year I came up with a few things to do:

1) Edward gave me a $20 gift limit so I?m thinking I?m going to purchase some roasted almonds for him as well as dinner from his favorite mexican restaurant. Both the roasted almonds and the dinner will be waiting for Edward when he comes home from work the day before our anniversary as an early anniversary present.

2) As for the ?homemade? portion of his gift, part 1 starts today. I found these really cute harry potter valentines day cards awhile back. I did a harry potter themed scavenger hunt for Edward for Valentine?s day so I never got a chance to give him the harry potter valentines day cards. So this works out nicely. There are 8 total. So each day leading up to our anniversary, I am going to give him one of the cards. Nothing special but just a little love note to remind him each day that I still love him. I taped the first one to our front door so it?s the first thing Edward will see today when he gets home from work. I tied red ribbons around each card so they look like little individual gifts.

3) Part 2 of Edward?s gift won?t be given until our actual anniversary. I saw the idea for this on pinterest. Here is a picture of what I based my idea off of:

You find pictures of maps from where you met, married, and where you currently live, cut the portion of the map into a heart shape, then insert it into a picture frame. Since we aren?t married yet, I had to modify this a bit. I also included hearts for where we were both born. So the lineup includes where we were born, where we met, where we got engaged, and where we currently live. The last 2 hearts are actually the same since Edward proposed to me in our kitchen the day before I graduated college. I thought it was a cute idea and would make a nice wall hanging for our bedroom or our library/study (whenever we end up getting when).

4) This isn?t really a gift more so our actual plans for our anniversary. We have decided to keep it low key this year and do our typical date night. It?s one of our favorite ways to spend time with each other in the summer. We will go to the local park and spend about an hour there, grab a bite to eat at one of our newest favorite places to eat (which just so happens to be a bar but they have good food), and then end the night with a movie at the drive in. It may not be fancy but it doesn?t matter. It?s about us. It?s about spending time with each other and celebrating how far we have come as a couple. We don?t need ?fancy? to do that.

So if you?ve stuck around this long, I thank you. I?m almost done, I promise. My point to this post was that relationships really go both ways. You can?t expect your significant other to stick around and be there for you if you?re not there for them. It may not always be 50/50. Sometime you may need to give 80 and only receive 20 in return. other times, you may be the one only able to give 20 while your significant other gives 80. All that really matters is that the love is there and that you?re both willing to fight for it. Like Edward and I agreed years ago, breaking up is not in our vocabulary. We are in it for the long haul. Edward is committed to our relationship just as much as I am. He is everything to me. He is my best friend. It may sound cliche but I?m so lucky that I not only fell in love with my best friend but I get to marry him.

*Just a note about the title of this post. The title is actually lyrics from a lifehouse song, ?everything?. To me the lyrics say everything I would want to say to Edward. He is my everything.

Source: http://f00dventures.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/youre-everything/

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