Celebrating 5 years

Our Wedding Day - July 22, 2006 in Burlington, VT

Five years ago today I married my best friend.  Now that we have been together 10 years, we have finally spent more time together than apart during our relationship.

For those of you that don't know our story, it started at the University of Vermont in Burlington in the spring of 2001.  We were inseparable for most of that semester of college, and then Colin graduated in May.  Our first few months apart saw me in the Dominican Republic on a study abroad trip, while he was in Albany.  But even before we parted for the first time we knew we loved each other and would do whatever was necessary to make our relationship work.

Our first full year apart was only a 2.5 hour driving distance from Burlington to Albany.  When Colin went to law school in NYC, the distance increased to a 6 hour drive from Burlington. And the following year when I went to grad school in Knoxville, we doubled our distance to a 12 hour drive.  I won't say distance is easy, but it works given the correct situation.  We each had our separate lives that we enjoyed, and those lives were enhanced when we were together.  It never felt like we were starting over because we were regular, important parts of each others lives - even from physical distance.

In 2005, after 4 years of being apart, we spent our year-long engagement relishing in time together as we prepared for our "life together."  There were new challenges as we now had a second person to think about when making day to day plans and decisions.  But these challenges were overcome through communication, patience, and love.

Our committment day arrived on July 22, 2006, where friends and family joined us in Burlington, Vermont to celebrate where it all began and see us formally join ourselves to each other.  While a wedding certainly is a commemorative event, we had joined ourselves to each other long before that day.  On that day, we shared our love for and committment to each other with everyone else.

The past 5 years have brought many joys and challenges.  I have learned so much about how ask for and offer help, what is worth fighting about and what is not important.  As we continue to grow and change, we find new challenges and opportunities in our lives.  The most important thing to both of us is sharing in these things together.

In true "Millers on the Road" fashion, I'd like to share the places we've been in these past 5 years.

• We have visited 5 countries: Costa Rica, Punta Cana (Dominican Republic), Cancun (Mexico), Cabo San Lucas (Mexico), Australia, and New Zealand.

Mt. Cook, New Zealand

Sydney, Australia

• We've seen many parts of 14 states.  Some of these include: Las Vegas (NV), Grand Canyon (AZ), San Diego (CA), Los Angeles (CA), San Francisco (CA), Yosemite (CA), Virginia Beach (VA), Fort Lauderdale (FL), St. Petersburg/Tampa (FL), Jacksonville (FL), Savannah (GA), Denver (CO), Breckenridge (CO), Lake Champlain (NY and VT), Washington DC, Long Beach Island (NJ), Delaware Water Gap (NJ), Philadelphia (PA), Catskill Mountains (NY), Mt Greylock State Park (MA), and Newport (RI).

Grand Canyon, AZ

Many of these trips were taking before the blog begin in December 2009, but Australia, New Zealand and some of the southeastern U.S. trips have been taken since then.  As I reflect on these trips, I know there is no one I'd rather travel with than my husband!  It brings me great joy to think of all the places we still have yet to see!!

Happy anniversary to my best friend, my husband, my love!