High School Sweetheart turned Lifetime Love
It all started 15 years ago in a little room full of rubber mats, weight machines and benches. That was the year I met "Matt Bryan". Of course, I had known about him long before this time, but it wasn't until one fall day in October that I actually met him and even thought about uttering any type of sentence to him.
It happened to be one of our conditioning days in weightlifting so we were on the track, walking, and I was minding my own business in my own little world, and started to head back inside because we had just finished. Then all of a sudden, my cousin ran up to me and said, "Tori, Matt wants to ask you to Powder Puff, would you go with him?" Pump the Brakes!! Say what?!! I absolutely knew she was pulling my leg, so I just kind of brushed it off and kept walking to the weight room. She kept bugging me and said, "No I'm serious, he really does." Still not convinced I kept walking and said, "Yeah sure he does because we just talk all the time, not." She kept trying to convince me and I kept brushing her off. In my mind, I was like, she is playing a horrible mean trick on me. Low and behold as we approached the weight room, I got confirmation that he indeed wanted me to go with him and he did actually know my name. Imagine that?!
Fast forward 15 years and here we are. Married for 10 with three baby girls in tow, trucking right along in this thing we call life. Matthew is for sure my match. When I say that I don't mean we are two peas in a pod, I actually mean quite the opposite. We couldn't be more different.
He is the life of the party...I am poker-face.
He is the calm one....I am the one you DON'T want in an emergency.
He is the spontaneous one...I am the list maker and planner of all things.
He is the charmer...I am the nurturer
He is the rule bender...I am the rule follower.
He is the one who talks until his eyes close...I am the one who prefers to sit in silence.
His love language is physical touch...mine is quality time.
He is the salty snack lover...I am the "give me all the chocolate".
He is the black coffee drinker...I am the "I'll take some coffee with my creamer".
He is the action movie watcher...I am the I watch Christmas movies and Golden Girl reruns.
He is the strength...I am the glue.
We are truly two different sides of the coin, I could be wrong and perhaps a little bit biased, but honestly from the experiences we've had together, I think opposites make for the just right relationship. It has taken us this long to figure out we are completely different. 15 years, not too shabby right? Better late than never. But now that we understand this, we can use our personalities to complement what the other lacks or struggles with. So when my plans don't go the exact way I have written them in my five different journals that are labeled and each category can be identified by the different color pen (you think I'm joking, but I'm really not), he reminds me that my life doesn't need to be planned out every second of everyday and sometimes the greatest things come from just winging it until you make it to the next step in your journey. Or when he becomes tired and weary from this world we live in, I can remind him, this place is not our home.
Our relationship is far from perfect. We can still argue, we can still fuss, we can still be selfish, we can still let the wrong words slip our of our mouths without thinking of the repercussions. We've both had to humbly ask for forgiveness for some of the things we've done, whether it was through anger, through selfishness, or just simply pride and stubbornness. Marriage is definitely not peace, joy, and happiness all the time. Actually it can be quite difficult and painful at times. However we have learned to make it work and how to make it work for the good. Our perceptions and expectations have been reshaped by the one and only person who can fix anything, Jesus. When he came into our lives and our relationship, our world changed. It wasn't overnight, but little by little, day by day, moment by moment, he worked on our hearts, so we could work for him. I hope to spend the rest of this lifetime, using this gift of marriage to glorify him.
Matthew, a decade down and a rest of a lifetime to go. Love you.
The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Genesis 2:23-24
With love,
Tori
It happened to be one of our conditioning days in weightlifting so we were on the track, walking, and I was minding my own business in my own little world, and started to head back inside because we had just finished. Then all of a sudden, my cousin ran up to me and said, "Tori, Matt wants to ask you to Powder Puff, would you go with him?" Pump the Brakes!! Say what?!! I absolutely knew she was pulling my leg, so I just kind of brushed it off and kept walking to the weight room. She kept bugging me and said, "No I'm serious, he really does." Still not convinced I kept walking and said, "Yeah sure he does because we just talk all the time, not." She kept trying to convince me and I kept brushing her off. In my mind, I was like, she is playing a horrible mean trick on me. Low and behold as we approached the weight room, I got confirmation that he indeed wanted me to go with him and he did actually know my name. Imagine that?!
Fast forward 15 years and here we are. Married for 10 with three baby girls in tow, trucking right along in this thing we call life. Matthew is for sure my match. When I say that I don't mean we are two peas in a pod, I actually mean quite the opposite. We couldn't be more different.
He is the life of the party...I am poker-face.
He is the calm one....I am the one you DON'T want in an emergency.
He is the spontaneous one...I am the list maker and planner of all things.
He is the charmer...I am the nurturer
He is the rule bender...I am the rule follower.
He is the one who talks until his eyes close...I am the one who prefers to sit in silence.
His love language is physical touch...mine is quality time.
He is the salty snack lover...I am the "give me all the chocolate".
He is the black coffee drinker...I am the "I'll take some coffee with my creamer".
He is the action movie watcher...I am the I watch Christmas movies and Golden Girl reruns.
He is the strength...I am the glue.
We are truly two different sides of the coin, I could be wrong and perhaps a little bit biased, but honestly from the experiences we've had together, I think opposites make for the just right relationship. It has taken us this long to figure out we are completely different. 15 years, not too shabby right? Better late than never. But now that we understand this, we can use our personalities to complement what the other lacks or struggles with. So when my plans don't go the exact way I have written them in my five different journals that are labeled and each category can be identified by the different color pen (you think I'm joking, but I'm really not), he reminds me that my life doesn't need to be planned out every second of everyday and sometimes the greatest things come from just winging it until you make it to the next step in your journey. Or when he becomes tired and weary from this world we live in, I can remind him, this place is not our home.
Our relationship is far from perfect. We can still argue, we can still fuss, we can still be selfish, we can still let the wrong words slip our of our mouths without thinking of the repercussions. We've both had to humbly ask for forgiveness for some of the things we've done, whether it was through anger, through selfishness, or just simply pride and stubbornness. Marriage is definitely not peace, joy, and happiness all the time. Actually it can be quite difficult and painful at times. However we have learned to make it work and how to make it work for the good. Our perceptions and expectations have been reshaped by the one and only person who can fix anything, Jesus. When he came into our lives and our relationship, our world changed. It wasn't overnight, but little by little, day by day, moment by moment, he worked on our hearts, so we could work for him. I hope to spend the rest of this lifetime, using this gift of marriage to glorify him.
Matthew, a decade down and a rest of a lifetime to go. Love you.
The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Genesis 2:23-24
With love,
Tori
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