What I love...

After my post yesterday, I've decided to spend sometime on here reflecting on the things I love about my life. Time to get out of my own head and see what I am blessed with. Today will be about my fiance, Richard. This photo is us on top of the Tongariro Crossing in New Zealand- on top of volcanoes! (A big hike I'll go into on another post!) We met in Sydney, Australia almost 4 years ago- we were staying in the same backpackers youth hostel. A bunch of circumstances and silly coincidences kept bringing us together until I realized I couldn't get enough of him! I fell for him the second I saw him dance, saw him smile, when I saw him and his best friend writing in their travel journals. We experienced a whirlwind couple of weeks together before he and Dan left to drive around the country. Luckily, they had invited me to meet up with them along the way! Saying goodbye that first time was so so hard- gut wrenching tears in the shower after they'd gone. But I knew it was far from over. I knew I'd found the man I wanted to be with forever. No doubt what so ever! Amazing how people always say that happens, you just know, but I didn't believe them till it happened to me.
I met up with them a month later in South Australia and the three of us spent the next two months driving around that beautiful and amazing country. (and no one seemed worried I was jumping in a car with two complete strangers either!) Rich and I slept in a tent while Dan was on a mattress in the back of the Falcon. We got to know so much about each other in such a short time that I knew there was no turning back. I'd found someone who loved to travel as much as I did, someone who loved music and football (aka soccer) and sport as much as me, someone who could make me laugh for hours on end. The similarities in our thoughts and passions were unending, as well as how we dreamed of living our lives. I was in love with him in minutes- something I had never experienced before. The first time I felt complete and absolute acceptance. The first time I felt like my heart was going to burst every time I thought about him or talked about him. The first time I felt love in a look, in a touch, in a tone of voice. I felt safe, beautiful, funny, interesting, Loved. And it's only continued to grow into something more amazing everyday! Wow, this is so hard to put into words, even getting a bit emotional thinking about him. He is such a good friend, so honest and open, so real, so alive, so beautiful, so supportive, so understanding, so creative, so smart, so strong, so wonderful with my family, so funny, so so so...sigh.
One moment that sums it up was when we were in the car, after only being together on the road for less than a week. R was driving, I was in the passenger seat, and Dan was in the back. I asked Dan what he was thinking about, he said he was busy writing his best man speech for our wedding. Little did I know how right he was! Brilliant!
We've been able to travel the world together, survive being apart for long stints (3 months at a time for a year!), moving to a new city, family reunions, climbed mountains together, learning how to love and be loved. We've experienced so much already, I can't wait to see what life has in store for us! (knock on wood of course!) Life has been better because we are together, in every single possible way. I am so grateful, so lucky, and oh so happy. I wish you could meet him! Or see my face when I'm with him!
What do you love about your life? Feel free to share on here or on your own blog! Let's put out some positive vibes!!