Dear Eternal Companion

Thank you for choosing me, way back when we were only 16 and 18. Thank you for deciding I was worth a second look, after initially being "too quiet". Thank you for the teasing and little pushes while we played ghosts in the graveyard outside Grandma Barrett's on that New Year's Eve when 2000 turned to 2001. Thank you for making my heart spin that weekend.

Thank you for letting me run away from my High School drama later that year, and take a short weekend trip to your house with my BFF, your cousin. Thank you for staying up all night talking about religion and all the crazy things going on in the life of a 17 year old teenage Mormon girl. Thank you for being the only Mormon boy I could ever talk to about life. Thank you for not making the moves on me that weekend, but instead showing me the kind of respect that a daughter of God deserves. Thank you reminding me what qualities I was searching for in the man of my dreams. Thank you for showing me that you were what I deserved.

Thank you for driving to Carnation almost every weekend for 4 months, so we could see each other. Thank you for staying worthy of serving a mission and worthy of our future together, worthy of becoming an Elder and to hold the priesthood. Thank you for leaving me for 2 years. Thank you for all the letters and emails and packages and the 2 phone calls during those 2 years. Thank you for getting to know me and letting me get to know you through letters. Thank you for loving me the whole time you were gone. Thank you for loving me when you came back.

Thank you for proposing to me only 3 weeks after returning. Thank you for wanting to get married in the temple. Thank you for buying me a ring that sparkled beyond all I had ever imagined. Thank you for surprising me with it and being all romantic-like when you gave it to me. Thank you for marrying me for time and all eternity. Thank you for taking me to Canada on our honeymoon. Thank you for working hard to support us as newlyweds when I couldn't find a job, and when I went to beauty school.

Thank you for the first attempt at starting our family. Thank you for standing by me when it didn't go as  planned. Thank you for being worthy of the Priesthood to give me a blessing that weekend. Thank you for trying a second time to start our family. Thank you for giving me our baby girl, Ry. Thank you for being worthy of being her father. Thank you for her blue eyes and her love of singing. Thank you for our second baby girl, Kendall. Thank you for giving her your crazy-ness, and sense of humor. Thank you for our baby boy and naming him Elijah. Thank you for his puffy hair, and dimples.

Thank you for being strong. Thank you for your never ending hard work. Thank you for doing all you can for us. Thank you for being positive. Thank you for being funny. Thank you for being sarcastic. Thank you for loving us. Most of all, thank you for being so ridiculously good-looking, I always knew we would make adorable kids.

Love,
Your Eternal Companion.