Five Years Too Fast

Today is Aaron and my fifth anniversary! Huh??? How is that even possible? It surely doesn't feel like we've been married five years, but as the old saying goes...time flies when you're having fun. :)

Aaron surprised me with the most sentimental, lovable, creative gift on the face of the planet. He created a 100-page book of pictures from our past five years.

First, he read a poem to me, and for those of you who know Aaron, you know that his gift of poetry is real and wonderful. I'm the luckiest woman alive to have a husband write such beautiful poetry to me. I have a book of HUNDREDS of poems I've kept over the years. I will cherish them forever.

Within the first couple lines, the tears started to flow. Ella was demanding our attention while Aaron read the poem to me, so it made the moment a little less romantic, but still so sweet nonetheless! I asked Aaron if I could post the poem on my blog, and he said, "Of course!" To better understand the poem you may want to read Match Made in Heaven to remember how we met. So, here is the poem (get your tissue ready):

This anniversary,
It's a precursor event,
You are the most incredible person that I have ever met.
And how could I forget,
You found me,
A hundred million people, how could I be so lucky?
And I think it's funny,
How our lives intertwined,
Mind buzzin' like a beehive because your love had robbed me blind.
Yup, you clogged up my mind,
Nothing could get through,
I took a 24-hour bus drive with a bunch of "tweekers" just so that I could see you.
And that was just the start,
I loved you from the start,
I knew it when I felt all the blood go from my brain to my heart.
And like pourin' rain, it did start,
That love you can't fake,
The kind of devotion that emotions create.
And this emotional state,
Ticket to San Diego,
Comin' down the terminal I was as scared as a scarecrow.
What if she doesn't like me?
Will I look good enough for her?
What if this doesn't play out like I think it will occur?
And the rest is a blur,
From the escalator on,
My heart beat escalates but all the worries are gone.
And it could never go wrong,
My life is perfect in the literal sense,
Sure, we've had bumps in the road but those are just minimal dents.
And in the subliminal sense,
I'm writing this for me for her,
To make me a better father and lover and husband, I'm sure.
And just as it were, we're five years later,
I can still picture myself on that escalator.
First glance at her eyes,
The tone of her skin,
Is this a trance in disguise or a bona fide friend?
And, of course, it's the latter,
Honey, no more hearts will be shattered,
I'm gonna fill you with love,
And memories of laughter.
Don't give up on me now,
We're in this together,
I feel like I can fly, you're the wings to my feather.

I won't give up on you, babe. This infertility has had an unfortunate toll on our relationship, but not once did I not feel your strength keeping me up when I've wanted to fall. Not once did I feel like I was truly alone in this battle. I won't ever give up on you because you have never given up on me. I love you!

Then, he presented the book to me. I was shaking because I was so shocked, excited and happy to see his surprise for me! I cried, laughed, ooooh'd and awww'd while slowly absorbing the memories of each page. Out of the 50,000+ pictures we have accumulated, he somehow was able to concise our collection to only 500 pictures in this book.

The front cover.

The back cover.

There is no possible way for me to pick my favorite pages to show you, so I just opened up the book a few times and whatever pages I landed on were the pages I took pictures of. Click on each picture to view a bigger version. Enjoy!

The inside lip of the back cover. If you can't read it, Aaron wrote, "I love Mommy" on Ella's hand. So cute!

Bobbi, Ella and Aaron are Unbelievably Together, Infinitely Friends and Ultimately in Love.

After looking at the book and realizing Aaron must've poured HOURS into creating it, I asked how he found the time to work on it without me knowing. He confessed that he woke up in the middle of the night to work on it. Yeah, my reaction exactly...OH MY GOSH!!! How did I get so lucky? Seriously, how did I get so lucky?