For us, being committed to each other for three years, now going on four, means always choosing your person.
Anyone who knows us is familiar with Justin’s time in the U.S. Navy. However, they might not be familiar with the time before that. While Justin grew up in Stockton, California, I was born and raised in the PNW. Somehow, someway, our paths crossed and we’ve been inseparable since.
When most think of the word inseparable, you think ‘always together’. That wasn’t the case for us. We have been a long distance couple since our start. Being stationed in Bremerton, Washington, he took that ferry and made the two hour drive to see me every weekend. He rarely ever missed one. We’d trade off every now and then, and I would drive down to see him, but spending time together was the only goal- and we were dedicated to that.
Once a week quickly turned into once every month to two months come Justin having been relocated back to San Diego, CA- we really kept Alaska Airlines and Hilton
in business.
For the next two years, Justin remained in San Diego and I stayed up in Washington. Come January 2024, Justin was deployed with the USS Theodore Roosevelt, set to come home in August. It was always going to be us against the world, but it felt like it just kept coming. Deployment was extended indefinitely. The Roosevelt saw two and a half months of extensions, finally set to come home in October.
We’ve been asked countless times if we ever wished it was different; what if we could’ve spent more time together, not been as painfully long distance as we were. As perfect as that sounds, we wouldn’t change a thing. Justin and I got to grow into our own perfectly imperfect people. We grew our own hobbies and lives, made life long friendships, and discovered what makes our hearts tick. Easy answer, the other person.
We decided to have an intimate elopement ceremony within Glacier National Park with only our immediate family and closest friends. Those who have unconditionally supported us throughout these few short years together so we can turn them into decades.
Our story is only just starting and we can’t wait to tell it forever.