Cheers to a Love for a Lifetime 💍
Cheers to a Love for a Lifetime 💍
Singing: “Do you know what today is???….It’s our Anniversary!
Hello Two Years 😄🎉!
That’s how long it’s been since my father walked me down the aisle and hugged the man who I would say “I do” to at the altar. I’m literally tearing up now while writing this as I think back to a truly magical day. A perfect day I would say, even with its imperfections. It was a day that was full of love all around.
My handsome husband Jeff and I got married on Sunday, August, 7, 2022 at the Fox Hollow in Woodbury, NY. We chose that venue because it was a dream of mine to get married outdoors in a garden-like oasis similar to my parents wedding reception at the Queens Botanical Gardens on August 8, 1987.
We searched far and wide for the venue, even visiting places out of state in NJ to cover our bases. When we toured the Fox Hollow we were Blown Away by what they had to offer and I knew I was going to get my dream garden wedding. On the morning of our wedding however, the skies turned dark like tar, and the rain poured like it wanted to quench the thirst of a dry desert. And just like that, my dream garden wedding was in jeopardy. But ask me if I panicked…
I certainly did not!
Instead, when looking outside of the hotel window where my mom, nana, bridesmaids, and I were getting ready, I saw the parking lot being washed by the sky, and said “It will pass.” With every fiber of my being and every ounce of faith I had, I knew I would get married in the garden that day. As I arrived at the wedding venue, still raining outside, the Maître d asked if I wanted to move the wedding indoors and I said, “Absolutely not. The rain will pass.”
And pass, it did! 🙏🏽🙌🏽
The sky cleared up, the sun shined bright, and the weather was beautiful. I got my garden wedding where I married the love of my life and I was over the moon excited and grateful!
I’ve since learned that a rainy, turned beautiful day, and vice versa, can also be compared to marriage. Some days feel like a bright sunny day while others feel gloomy and like a storm is brewing. If you’re married or in a long-term relationship, you know exactlyyy what I’m talking about. No relationship is perfect. Not one. But it’s a matter of how we weather the storms that help us remember why we entered into the commitment and promised longevity and love in the first place.
And I get it. In the heat of the moment, sometimes this is easier said than done. Emotions can run high, ego’s may try to steal the show, and words can be misunderstood.
That’s because we are all human. However, the benefit of being human is that we are blessed with the ability to learn. And learning about yourself and each other is a lifelong gift and I believe, a dope aspect of marriage.
Doing the inner work on self to become a better version for yourself, your partner, and your family is like the gift that keeps on giving. Healing past traumas and wounds, learning love languages, understanding how to connect with each other's communication styles, and knowing how to engage in healthy conflict to find resolution. These are all requirements for a healthy and happy marriage.
Not working on these things can, well…take a promising picturesque marriage and twist up the image until it’s unrecognizable.
Personally, I’m not interested in that At All. Not for me or for you and your present, or if you’re still manifesting the love of your life, your future union either.
So, to avoid this, my husband and I do the work. Together and individually. This type of work can be preventative to help avoid sh!t hitting the fan in the long run.
The inner work that we do is with the help of books like “Wired for Love” by Stan Tatkin, or apps like Regain, or the 5 Love Languages newsletter, or pre-marital counseling, or individual therapy. Nobody is perfect and we all come with baggage. That means the fair thing to do for yourself and your partner is to drop the baggage on the floor, open it up, and piece by piece, shed light on past parts of yourself and your life, in order to heal what is subconsciously running the show now.
You have to do the inner work. It’s one thing to know your issues and what needs healing and it’s another thing to actually get support and do the work. Awareness only goes so far and this is for any type of relationship really. Including the one with yourself. Taking this journey to do the inner work has helped me tremendously but more on how I navigated that in upcoming newsletters, so if you’re interested in that, be sure to subscribe. (Also, if you can’t read this full post via email, subscribe to my Substack)
I feel thankful that the work my husband and I have done and still do led us to two fun, adventurous, love filled married years! I can’t see myself doing life with anyone else and I’m so happy Jeff and I decided to do this life thing together.
My incredible husband Jeff is a kind, witty, generous, handsome, hilarious, intelligent husband and great father whose voice can energize a room, whose wisdom can beat you in just about any game involving intellect lol, and whose impact can be enjoyed and appreciated throughout time. He’s a legacy maker. We have even been blessed to manifest our love into our own legacy by adding our daughter Jianna to this Johnson Journey and I’m so excited to enjoy this life with both of them! Today and every day I am grateful and feel blessed that I am married to Thee Jeff Johnson. Happy Anniversary to Us! 💚🙏🏽🙌🏽
Some of our favorite people created wedding recap videos so click below to watch each one. I WISH I could include each video people created and share every photo but this post has a length limit lol. Until next time, Later Lovely.
XO,
Kelley Green Johnson
