This is such a gem of a video. Because scuba gear.
"You get brave when I get shy / Just another reason why / I think you could be so good for me"
Once upon a time I went on a date with a boy — who did not end up as my husband, thank goodness — who essentially told me that he believed marriage required people to abandon their dreams and get more boring.
Now, I suppose this is true if one of your dreams is to sleep with a million different people. Or to play Russian roulette every night. Or to punch everyone you meet in the face.
But in my experience of marriage, it's been quite the opposite.
I dream bigger when I'm part of a team. I aspire to more.
It's fun investing in Matthew's dreams, both big and little. And I love how he invests in mine. We're both pursuing creative freelance careers — read: unstable and sometimes scary — and while we certainly don't have everything figured out, we are both significantly farther along now than when we first met four years ago.
I'm a better writer — and, um, a PAID one — because Matthew believed in me. I credit the greater boldness and creativity in other areas of my life to having a safe place to fall if I royally screw up and land on my butt/face. (Not "butt face," to clarify.)
And I like to think that Matthew's made some bolder moves career-wise because he knows I'm rooting for him no matter the outcome.
Is this true? I just asked him. He says, "Yeah, I think it's helped. For sure."
For Christmas, Matthew gave me a recording session. We wrote a cute little pop song together last spring and he wanted me to "let loose my inner Amy Grant."
Because he knows me.
Because he knows he can push me out of my comfort zone.
Because he wants to see my dreams, however small they may seem to some, come true.
And because I told him, once upon a time, that I wanted to be Amy Grant when I grow up.
Every girl deserves a Matthew.
Four years ago today we went on our first date. I still can't get enough of him.
Gush-blog over.