I had a lot of things I could have discussed today. I might have wrote about the night we met, or how long it took me to figure out what was right in front of me, or how in the five years I have known Tim I have never heard him say anything deliberately cruel to me, or to anyone else. But instead, I thought I’d share a quick story from our vacation.

I’m moderately claustrophobic, and had no desire to learn how to snorkel on this trip. I knew between the mask over the face and the breathing through a tube that I’d be bad at it. I did not anticipate that there would be tropical fish so close to the beach, though. When Tim and I were out splashing in the water we’d see amazing fish just below the water, and my desire to get a closer look finally overcame my fear of snorkel-failure. The resort supplied equipment free of charge, so we gathered up the supplies and headed out to sea.

I was pretty much as bad at it as I had feared, but Tim (a heretofore unknown snorkel expert!) kept encouraging me. He didn’t laugh or roll his eyes, and all of a sudden… I got it. The underwater world was so amazing that I overcame most of my panic, and was able to keep my head under for minutes at a time, and then even longer. We swam out a little further, over some rocks and found a whole world of fish and crabs and corral and plants. It was a million times cooler than an aquarium, or anything I could even describe. It was a whole other world that I never imagined. I saw a large yellow and blue fish and I started following it. I would stay just a foot or two behind it as it swam over rocks and sand, and it really seemed to be taking me on a tour. I was so engrossed in the fish that I would forget about everything, even being scared for minutes at a time. Then, a splash or an urge to cough would bring me rushing back to panic, and I’d look over my left shoulder. Every time I did, Tim was swimming right behind me and he’d reach out and touch my leg or give me the thumbs up, and I’d feel better again and go back to the fish tour.

That day snorkeling was a lot like my friendship, and then relationship with Tim has been. With him encouraging me I am able to believe in myself more than I ever have in my life. And when I start to doubt, he’s always right there to tell me everything is going to be OK. He makes it easier to be the best person I can be, and I feel lucky every day that he picked me to love.

Happy Anniversary, Bobadoe.