10 YEARS OF AWESOME // OUR STORY

The best decisions are made with heart.

It was 10 years ago when our knees were shaking more or less, standing side by side at Vantaa magistrate and saying one of the most beautiful and important words; I DO.

We were young, in love. As big of a cliche it is, I knew when I met Jouni that this is it. All around us people were saying we should wait, but when heart knows, it knows. It still knows it. We were together for a couple of years before getting engaged, so I wouldn’t say we rushed into anything. If you’re looking into more cliches in our relationship, you won’t find any. Jouni proposed to me through Messenger while he was on a holiday of sorts from the army and I was in Sweden (“The next time I’ll be on holiday, let’s go and buy some bling on our fingers”) and we exchanged rings somewhere between Helsinki and Koivukylä on a train. When we decided to get married, it was once again through Messenger. (Or was it ICQ?!)

Engagement // 14.8.2004

It hasn’t always been easy. There’s been arguments and pouting. But not once have I been able to get him to raise his voice (yet?) when arguing. There’s been quiet times, times when the other one carries the relationship forwards when the other one is exhausted. There’s been seasons of unemployment, anxious nights, neighbors from hell. We’ve celebrated new beginnings, taken thousands of photos together, sweated through hot summer weddings. Flown for the first time to foreign destinations, cried together when our cat Naksu died. We’ve postponed our dreams so that the dreams of the other one could gain wings.

Married // 14.1.2005

But that’s the deal with wanting (because I do in Finnish is “tahdon”, “I want to”). Being right next to the other one. Supporting. Carrying when the other one is too tired. There’s only half of the sorrow, twice the joy. The best thing is when you fall in love with your partner all over and over again. When you’re too busy to sleep from all the talking and when you finally fall asleep, you’re holding hands. When you know that the other one will be there and never going anywhere. You can just be yourself and breathe.

This song has been on my mind almost daily since Christmas and I think it tells it all almost perfectly.

httpa://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scVEjRPUFDE