There are moments that are life-altering, moments that you will always look back on and realize that your world changed… completely tilted on its axis. It was in these moments for me that life was at its clearest, finest, most memorable and life-changing. These are the moments of my life that fill my heart and soul the most. These are the moments that will never leave my memory because these are the moments that everything changed.
The moment I first saw you… June 15, 2012 is the day we first met after months of anticipation and waiting. The moment I finally saw you will forever be etched into my mind. I know it sounds silly, but it has long felt like the day my life really began. After months of restless anticipation, of talks about love and finally meeting… well, we finally met! I saw you in the airport, close to midnight, and my throat literally felt like it was in my chest. My heart was beating out of control, my eyes flicked back and forth across the room. And I’ve heard it said before, or perhaps sung before… that even in a crowded room, all I could see was you, and how true that was! The plane landed and we spoke on the phone, searching for one another, anxiously, breathlessly, filled with anxiety, fear, excitement. My eyes landed on you first. I was giddy, and you kept searching as I barreled towards you. We finally locked eyes and you hung up the phone with a smile. We hugged and I never wanted to let go. For months, I had dreamed of this moment, imagined it like a moment torn straight out of a book or movie, and that’s exactly what it felt like: a picture perfect moment that couldn’t be mine, and yet it was. You were here. With me. After all this time.
The moment I said “yes”… August 16, 2012 you asked me to be your wife. I had a feeling this would be the day when you said you wanted to go somewhere after dinner. We had planned for it, looked at rings, and talked about it nonstop, but you still managed to stop me in my tracks when you dropped to your knee on the pier at the beach. While the two of us are very modest and easily embarrassed, it was as if the world around us stopped for a moment. For once, we didn’t care that we were surrounded by people who likely stared. We knew only that we loved each other and wanted to spend our lives together. We had jut finished a dinner out with the family who anxiously awaited our arrival back home; it seems I was the only one of them who didn’t know with certainty what was happening that night (though I did have an idea). You looked at me, said, “Stephanie Territo,” then asked me if I would be your wife. All I could do was smile and say “yes” as you opened the box with my ring.
The moment we said “I do”… October 5, 2013 will always remain one of the best and happiest days of my entire life. We knew before we even met that we were supposed to be together, and the moment I stood up there with you and said “I do,” we affirmed what we already knew and made a promise to always be together. When I think back to that moment and that day, I am always overcome with emotion and joy.
The moment he came into this world… January 22, 2015 we finally met our son. It was in this moment that I realized I knew nothing about anything because I knew nothing about this kind of love, the love for your child that is so perfect, so pure, so flawless in every way. Though so much of his birth was a blur, I remember so clearly when they placed him on my chest. In that moment, I became a mom and you became a dad and truly, our world will never be the same.
No comments