To my Husband who let me follow my Blog Dreams
I know it’s been quiet around here for the last week and I appreciate you being patient with me (if you love reading LWR, that is). These last couple weeks of the year have been filled with spending time with friends and family, making big plans for this space in the new year and unplugging and reconnecting with my husband. Today, I want to dedicate this post to him and his support of this little blog of mine.
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A little backstory:
Dustin and I met at college, the summer semester I decided to stay instead of going home to New Hampshire and Dustin’s first semester out there (our school operated on a three-semester system to accommodate more students and you could apply to stay year round.) It had been about a year since my last serious relationship, which had ended pretty ugly and took me a long while to put myself back together from. It’s safe to say I was NOT looking for any kind of relationship at the time.
I had signed up to take a handful of electives to get them out of the way while I worked at my new on-campus job. The first day of my MWF classes, I wore a blue bow in my hair, walked into a lecture room and grabbed a seat in the back corner. The class went by uneventfully. The next day of classes (which were all different classes because they were on the TTH schedule) I decided to wear the same blue bow in my hair because I thought it was cute and didn’t think anyone would notice. Except one person did notice the blue bow.
“The girl with the blue bow from my class the day before was now sitting in another class wearing the same bow and I thought to myself: ‘Yes, there is a God!'” (Dustin’s words, not mine).
And on the third day, I walked into class and saw a very cute guy sitting next to the seat I had sat in. The second I sat down, he immediate said: “Hey, we have another class together!” and when the teacher started his lecture, this really cute guy started passing me notes. By the end of the lecture, he had secured my phone number and asked if I wanted to go work on an assignment for the class with him later. A few weeks later, I knew I was falling in love with him.
Dustin and I dated for the rest of the year before he left to serve a two year mission for the LDS church. We went from spending all of our time together to only being able to write letters for two years. No emails. No phone calls. Just weekly letters. And, to make the situation even trickier, he had been assigned to serve his mission in New England (where I’m from). We weren’t allowed to see each other, because the church has very strict rules for it’s missionaries, but Dustin did meet my parents at a huge church meeting while I was in China. That was crazy.
When Dustin came home from his mission two years later, two years filled with pages and pages of letters, we knew we were done waiting. Dustin proposed to me two weeks after getting home and we were married in the Boston Temple of the LDS church 3.5 months later.
Fast Forward to 2 Years of Marriage (January of 2015)
I’ve shared this part of my blogging journey before, but after I got my degree in English Education, I went through a bit of a crisis realizing that I didn’t want to pursue a career in it. I settled for a part time job managing the front desk of a motorsports dealer and literally felt like I had no purpose in my life. I kept trying new hobbies, hoping to find some kind of passion in them (crocheting, sewing, Mary Kay) and they all ended in failure and discouragement.
I was so nervous to tell Dustin that I wanted to pursue blogging seriously, especially since it meant that I would need a bit of cash from our tight college-student budget to start it all up. I’d need to buy hosting, a theme and a domain and wanted to invest in some new photography equipment and after failing in so many other avenues, I was terrified. Dustin, being the entrepeneur that he is, made me pitch my blog to him a la Shark Tank (I had to have a presentation and everything) but in the end, he graciously allowed me to start my blogging adventure.
To the Husband who let me follow my blog dream:
I’m so grateful for you and your faith in me. There have been so many times that I’ve been discouraged or felt down about my blog. There have been times when I would sit all day comparing my space to someone elses and just want to throw in the towel because I would never get to where they were. You lifted me up, you motivated me, you encouraged me and you told me to keep going. When I started blogging more about clothes and makeup, you learned the controls of my DSLR and how to shoot in manual mode (no easy feat.) You follow me around and take my photos and when I feel insecure about posting them, you build me up.
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Last month, I made 900 dollars off of my blog. That’s way more than I ever made at my part time job. And because of that, I am so glad I was able to afford (all by myself) your new Xbox One for Christmas. I know you’ve wanted it for so long but we just never could swing that much money at once, so I’m so excited that I finally could buy it for you on my own.
Dustin, I’ve never been so motivated, so passionate or so driven in my life. I feel like I have a purpose again: to write, to share stories, to connect with others and, through my blog, to overcome my many struggles with my past. I’ve made incredible friends through blogging who keep me company while you work. I’ve become more confident in my skin, with my scars and have started to make peace with my body. I’m happier then I’ve ever been, being married to you, being a fur mama to Roo and being a full time blogger.
2016 is going to hold a lot of big plans and changes, and some of them might not work out, but I know that no matter what, you have my back. At the end of the day, that is all that matters. I love you, Dustin.
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Do you have someone who supports your blog dreams? How did you meet him or her?
