Forget the fairy tale - an actual love-ish story.

In less than 10 days, I will turn 31 and that means that I have known my husband for more than half of my life. Honestly, that seems so very impossible, and there are only an elite few that have that honor (or horror, depending upon who you ask!).

If you are expecting fairy tale perfection here, you can keep moving, this isn't the story for you, and I won't bore you with all the details, but here are some random highlights: rocky starts, a yellow camaro, blue hair dying in the front yard in the middle of (Florida) winter, skater pants, sneaking out in the middle of the night, a lost watch, random trips to nowhere, skipping school, separation, a gold necklace, moving to Atlanta, Marvelous 3's final concert, no sleep (who needed sleep?!?), shuttle launches, a Christmastime proposal, long drives, fights, being ramen noodle broke, turning 21 twice, buying a house, marriage planned in two weeks, surgery, making lifelong friends, college, one car totaled,  a broken foot (it was his fault), learning the importance of family, a broken nose (or so he says), graduation, still no sleep (different reasons), remodeling, puppy dogs, not wearing wedding bands, crazy cats, success and loss, traveling, moving cross country, snowboarding, and loving life.

Obviously, we have both grown and changed immensely since the start of our relationship, and that hasn't exactly been simple; I am pretty certain we have only made it through some days because murder = prison. We are not a fairy tale couple: we are flawed, damaged, imperfect, and still have a ton of room for improvement, but most days we work hard to make it worthwhile. Today, the mundane reminded me of just that, we are imperfect, but as we get older we are growing mostly for the better. We don't have it all figured out and some days it feels like we have none of it figured out, but we keep fighting through our flaws together.

I don't know what the secret to a long, fruitful, and happy marriage is, and I have no idea if that will be where this journey ends, but I do know that as long as we can keep overcoming the hurdles, we have a chance.

So, forget the fairy tales and start searching for a realistic narrative that is ever changing and evolving, that is where you will find your prince charming even though some days he will still seem a bit like a frog.

Our wedding in Negril.