It’s not the usual love story. It wasn’t love at first sight. It wasn’t a whirlwind romance. It was a blossoming, slow and steady, and it gets more beautiful every year.

We met via Instagram (goes down in the DM's!), a simple post about a lunch date. A simple lunch date with a stranger that turned into 4 hours sitting in the park talking for hours like we were long lost friends. Despite the random lunch date, fate kept bringing us together. We were tied through man mutual friends and connections we would have never guessed linked us.

After that lunch date was over, that very day, we started talking more and grew as bestfriends. Again, it was slow and steady. But an overpour of love and affection between us. The connection was far beyond just us, it built a bond between our children. DeShay Jr. and Eden became inseparable.

We are so different. Ying and yang in every way. And for awhile I wondered if we could really work. I never expected our love to unfold the way it has.

Every year our friendship deepens. Every year our hearts seems to grow bigger. Every year we love each other more.

We teach each other what love is all about.

Love generously, selflessly, wholeheartedly. Our love always puts us in awe. We don't just do birthdays, we do birthday week. We celebrate Valentines Day like it’s our anniversary. We aren't always the best communicator with words so we make up for it with an abundance of actions. Maximize our strengths in love and our weaknesses won’t matter as much.

Love with positivity and respect. We may disagree, argue, and have “discussions” but we don’t degrade. Always show respect to each other, no matter how upset we get at each other.

Be confident in your love. We simply hold each others hand and walk through life together. We have learned what it means to love with trust which allows our love to grow. Always be wary of unfounded jealousy, it can tarnish even the best of relationships. Choose to trust.

Create simple rituals. We never o to bed upset. Give kisses when we depart each other and always find a solution to our problems. We create easy rituals that ground our love and do them no matter what arguments come up in between.

Take care of each other. It’s the little things that sometimes make the biggest difference. With each little thing we do for each other, it teaches us how to properly care for someone and show love. We are constantly learning so we can get better at it. Show your loved one how much you love them by simply showing you’re thinking of them and taking care of them.

Love no matter what. We have days or weeks when get gets on each other nerves or we fight or bicker endlessly, but we love through that anyway. Choose to love. Decide that no matter what, we will love through it all. In so many ways, love is a choice. The initial heart flutters and butterflies in your stomach come to an end. If you’re in a good relationship with a good person, choose to stay in love every single day.

Forgive, forgive, forgive. We all make mistakes. We all lose control. We all say things we don’t mean. We all mess up. We deal with the problem as best as we can and then let it go. Once we deal with something, it’s done, over. Grudges are full of ego, anger and negativity.

Accept that it won’t all be perfect. Absolutely nothing in here should imply that our relationship is perfect, all fairytales and knights on white horses, no way. We have had our struggles, like every relationship. The imperfections come with the territory and add to the story. You grow in the imperfections. As long as we are both putting in the work, the imperfections help create the fairytale. Grow together in your imperfections and weave them into your love story.

Love unconditionally. It’s such a comfort. We all deserve that. We have to choose to give that kind of love to someone. We choose to stay in love. Choose to be nice. Choose to try harder. Choose to show love the best way you know how. Choose to love with positivity. Choose to love selflessly. Choose to love unconditionally.

We decided to love and to build a blended family against all odds, stereotypes and statistics. We are LOVE. We are FAMILY. We are a LOVE PUZZLE JOINING AS ONE.

M&D