Four Years - and Fifty Months

Four years. That is how long I have been the happiest I have ever been. Four years since I started the hardest but most rewarding chapter of my life. Four years of laughter, tears, and love.

On January 10th, Dillon and I celebrated our four year anniversary (but I'm guessing you already figured that out). Unfortunately, it was another anniversary spent apart. We decided not to get anything for each other since his birthday, Christmas, the wedding, etc. had just happened. But of course, he completely surprised me and sent me a small gift basket that included a balloon, chocolates, and the most adorable bird figurine. It was small but it meant so much to me. Actually, when I saw it, I burst into tears. Like full on sobbing. It was just so sweet that he thought to send me something after we told each other we wouldn't be buying gifts this year. That, and it broke my heart that we were apart yet again for another big event in our lives. But oh well. That night we Skyped and ate, drank, and watched TV together. A couple of his friends came in and serenaded me by playing the guitar and singing Wagon Wheel by Darius Rucker. I had a stupid smile on my face the entire time, it was actually super sweet.

I love you Dillon. Here is to the fifth chapter of our lives together; let it be filled with more love and more happiness than ever.

Also, a couple days ago was our 50th monthaversary. I know that seems like a silly thing to be happy about seeing as how we just celebrated our four year. But after reading this post I don't have any shame in it. Fifty months is a long ass time!! I don't think monthaversaries should be celebrated to the same extent as anniversaries, but I love that we exchange little "happy monthaversary, I love you!" texts. We should celebrate the small things in life. And especially with a long distance relationship, I think we should celebrate every. single. day. I'm not saying that we struggle to stay together every day, but oh my gosh, long distance relationships are the epitome of hopping on the struggle bus. Not trying to get pity or anything, but it's hard being apart from the one you love more than anything in the world. I know that there are some good things about being in a long distance relationship, but I would trade those any day to finally be with Dillon permanently. So here is to celebrating the small things - the years, the months, and the days!

"I Love You"

Oh, the first time. If I'm being honest, Dillon was not the first boy I said those three little words to. But with said other boy, they were just words with no meaning behind it. I was a silly 15 year old and had absolutely no idea what it really meant.

With Dillon, it was different. Although I still have to say I don't think either of us knew exactly what it meant to say those words. I believe that we both loved each other at the time, but it was still a puppy kind of love. I think we have been learning throughout our entire relationship what love really means. We learn what it means to love each other every single day and there will never come a day where I know everything there is to know about loving him and being loved by him.

Our first ever picture together.

Wow that got real sappy real fast. My bad. Anyways, onto the story. It was about three months into our relationship, which at the time seemed like forever, but now I can see what babies we were. I remember it being night time, and we were in the parking lot of Fry's Grocery Store. We were arguing about who knows what when all the sudden he kind of threw up his hands and said "I love you, okay? I just - I love you." And you know what I did? I just stared, smiling, like a total crazy person. I was seriously so surprised that he left me speechless. Eventually he was like "Well, aren't you going to say something?" Poor guy looked so sad. As if I wasn't going to say it back! And then I did. I said those three words and my life has changed forever. Maybe too dramatic? But probably not. He has changed my life, this love has changed my life. Super romantic though, right?

Our first trip together - up to Oregon! Three months after the first "I love you."

Again, sappy. Sorry! But you want to know the funny part? Dillon and I were talking about it when he was here last weekend and he has a completely different memory of our first "I love you." The way he remembers it, it was very calm and he said "Emily, I have something to tell you. I love you" all sweet and romantic like. I'm pretty sure I'm right, but I can let him have this one if he really wants. ;)

Trust vs. Respect

This topic has been on my mind for quite a while now, but has recently really gotten to me since Halloween was last weekend. There is a difference between trust and respect, and I believe that both are important to have in a relationship.

I have been in a long distance relationship for about three and a half years now, and the one thing I always hear from other couples in long distance relationships is that trust is the most important factor. And I do agree with that. Both my boyfriend and I have had huge trust issues. We were only 17 when we started dating and we were thrust into a long distance relationship only seven months into dating. We were young and naive and downright stupid at times. But our relationship has always been strongest when we learned to trust each other. We both still worry and jealousy creeps in, but we trust that we love each other and would never intentionally hurt one another.

Past trust, though, is respect. And I honestly think that there is too little respect going around in the relationships I see. This may be none of my business, but when pictures are shared for all to see on social media such as facebook, twitter, and instagram, I can't help but notice. I love a good party as much as the next person, but when you are in a relationship, close or long distance, there are certain ways you should present yourself. With Halloween, the trend is for girls to wear as little as possible and call it a costume. I do not necessarily look down on this - I get it, you want to look and feel sexy if only for one night. And chances are, as "slutty" as you look, there will always be a girl with less clothes on (cue fully naked ASU student). With that being said, it is disrespectful to do so and then take a ton of pictures with other guys.

Now before you think I'm a total hypocrite, I want you to know that I don't think all pictures with other guys are terrible. This is a picture I took on Saturday night. Even without knowing any details, I would like to think that if my boyfriend saw this he would not be in the slightest upset, and I did in fact send this to him. First, it's his best friend, but also I feel I am not so close to him in the photo that anyone would think that this was my "new boyfriend."

When you take a picture with your arms completely around another guy (that isn't your boyfriend or a relative), it is disrespectful to your relationship. When you take a picture that involves kissing any part of the body, it is disrespectful to your relationship. If I can't distinguish between your body and his body because you are that close, it is disrespectful to your relationship. If I, or anyone else, has to check your relationship status to make sure you're still with so-and-so, because your picture shows a different story, you are being disrespectful to your relationship. This is not about trust - you can trust your significant other and they can trust you 100%, but if you are not respectful of your boyfriend/girlfriend and the relationship you have, then that is not any better. Think twice before you get so close to another guy that it would look like you're dating, and most of all, think twice before you post said pictures on social media. Personally, I don't think you look cute, and I'm not jealous of all the fun you want to let everyone know you're having. I see someone who is trying to have a good time, but is not remembering to respect the committed relationship they are in.

That Time I (Spent the Weekend in Denver)

I now interrupt the That Time I: Cruise Edition for a weekend update!

I know, I know. I already did this to you once before and you hated me for it, but this is the first time I've had the chance to sit down and write about my weekend, and I'm way too excited to share!

This past weekend I was able to fly up to Colorado to spend the weekend with Dillon! I can't even start to explain how happy I am that we finally had a weekend to ourselves. The last time we saw each other was around the end of May but we really haven't gotten any quality alone time together in a few months. Since we last saw each other I started my summer job, turned 21, and Dillon spent three weeks in Germany; a lot has happened so this weekend was much needed!

I flew into Denver late Saturday morning, which was really nice because we pretty much still had the whole day together. Since my cousins were camping this weekend we ended up just getting a hotel in Denver since that's where I was flying in and out of. Plus we hadn't spent too much time in Denver (which is about an hour from Colorado Springs) so we thought it would be fun to explore! We were pretty lazy to begin with, just hanging out at the hotel and enjoying finally being together! That evening we went to California Pizza Kitchen and had a double date! Dillon went to Germany with a guy named Taylor and me and his girlfriend Lily had met when I drove through Albuquerque on my way to bring Dillon his truck. We really hit it off, and texted pretty much every day when they were in Germany, mainly just complaining that we missed our boyfriends, haha.

Me and Lily! We went out for FroYo in Albuquerque together! And you gotta love the awesome photobomb. :)

Dinner was great! Dillon was a little hesitant at first, he hates small talk, but I told him it would be fun, and it really was! After dinner we went to the theater and saw This Is The End. Yes, I had already seen it before, and yes I think it's good enough to see twice! D hadn't seen it before and he loved it!

On Sunday we went to the Cherry Creek Arts Festival! You can check them out here. They have an amazing non-profit mission in which they aim to "provide access to art experiences and support art education." Artists from all over the country came for the weekend to show off their artwork, there was even a guy from Tucson!

Okay this guy...amazing! We happened to stumble across his show right as his last one was starting. He is a performance speed painter who paints portraits of celebrity faces in a matter of 4-7 minutes. His first painting, on the right, was of Frank Sinatra and it blew my mind. He started painting and I was like, okay yeah that can be the top of his head/ear...then all the sudden it was the eyes/nose! You should definitely watch this video so you can see what I mean! And neither Dillon or I could figure out the left was Einstein until he drew the hair/mustache!

We walked through the booths for a good hour or so and we would point out pieces of art we would like to have in our future home together. Awh. ;) <3

Monday was a great day! Even though it was the day I was leaving, my flight didn't leave until 9pm, so it was really nice that we still had the entire day to hang out! There was an IKEA only a few miles down the road from our hotel, and call me crazy but I was begging D to take me there since the first day! I had never been in an IKEA and it just always seemed like so much fun. I actually had a a really good time, walking through the show floor, and again imagining the furniture we would have in our future home. It sounds super cheesy, but it's a really nice thing to talk about with this crazy long distance we have had to go through for the past three years, and the next two ahead of us.

After IKEA we ate lunch, stopped by GNC, and then went to the theater to see another movie! This time we saw Monsters University! I know a lot of people don't want to see it/don't like it because it doesn't have Boo in it, but I thought it was a super adorable and funny movie!

We still had a few hours to kill before I had to go to the airport, so we ended up going to the Denver Downtown Aquarium!

  Can you tell I like turtles?? That's pretty much the only thing I took pictures of...

 Even this picture...it's my "Let's take a picture with the turtles behind us!" picture. Can't see the turtles? Me either. But you know, we're cute too, even with the weird shadows across our faces.

What?!? You mean to tell me tigers don't belong in an aquarium?

I thought it was weird, too. But the Denver Aquarium doesn't give a f what we think! They had tigers and snakes and parrots and other weird non-aquarium things.

Squishies!

 This is the last picture we took "together." I thought it was rather cute because we were sitting at the aiport after finishing dinner, right before I had to head to the security line, and he says "Wait, take a picture of our bracelets for your blog!" Such a cutie pie. ;)

I won't lie, there were quite a few tears during our goodbye. We have 52 days to go until we see each other again for USAFA's Parent's weekend. And although we had to say goodbye yet again, I am so happy we had this weekend together. I can't say enough how much we needed it as a couple. It was a much needed refresher for our relationship, and I really do feel so much better now that the weekend has past, even if we are apart. I feel so lucky to have such an amazing best friend and boyfriend. <3

Rhonna Designs

As always, don't forget to check out Alex's That Time I post over at Let Life Be Like Music!

Linking Up: Random Wednesday, Weekly Wednesday