#1,456 Bag Came In + The Lights.

It’s here. And it’s so much better than I even expected. I just wish you could smell it. New leather is the best, isn’t it?

I just can’t recommend The Leather Store enough!

So way back in 2004, on this night Ben met my mama for the first time (and he had her at “hello,” lucky for me), and we went on our first date. Seems unusual, but not under the circumstances. You can read about that here. The next night we went to see the lights display at Mason Park. Every year we have a tradition of going back to some of those places where we were falling in love, so tonight instead of turning down our driveway after visiting my parents, he surprised me and kept driving and turned down 7th Avenue. We parked behind the park (tip: it’s the best place to see the lights), and he said he felt like walking. It was so cold and a little misty, and it felt good to feel his heavy, huge arm around me. To remember being Ben Napier’s brand new girl 9 years ago. We walked for a long time, talking about everything. Our life together. Where it’s been and where it’s going. We talked about how it feels like events in our separate lives seem to bleed into the other’s, like every decision has been for the two of us even when it felt unrelated. Like this event led to this, which led to this, which is leading us to this and so on. We’re never alone, we share every thing. I can’t really remember my life before him. I’m relieved we found each other out of all the billions of people on this earth because I can’t imagine anyone else making me feel so… myself. And loved and protected. I wish that for every one of you.

We kept talking and wandered down every path. We made a video of our favorite displays:

We stood in the middle and I made a 360 degree photo of it all.