Roadmap of Love

Map of Love

This past week was a pretty big week for Jeremy and me. First, we spent a lot of quality time together. My last post, I mentioned that we went to a Cubs game on Sunday. 

Later today, we are meeting with my best friend and her husband for lunch. Her husband, Mike, is the friend who is marrying us. Mike has a Master's degree in family counseling and asked us to read The Necessary Nine as a base for discuss for pre-martial counseling. We thought this was a GREAT idea. We are also HUGE procrastinators, so we spent A LOT of time this week doing this.

This week was also a big week for us because we celebrated that it's been one year since this.

Yup! We have officially been engaged for one year! The night Jeremy proposed, we went to our favorite restaurant, which also happened to be the site of our first date. So, on Friday night, we went back to celebrate!

The combination of discussing our relationship and celebrating our relationship this week really made me THINK about how THANKFUL I am for our relationship.

So, I decided to make a craft that celebrates us and our history.

Jeremy and I met about 12 years ago, in the summer of 2000. I was dating a friend of his, and he came along to hang out with my single friends. We never became close friends, but we lived in neighboring towns and had a lot of mutual friends. We saw each other at least once a year and remained friendly.

This continued for 8 years. Then, 4 years ago, I moved to Chicago. I was SO excited to be in the BIG CITY and so, of course, I posted it on Facebook. Jeremy had moved to Chicago a couple years before, saw that I was living in Chicago, and invited me out for a drink.  Anxious to make friends, I readily agreed.

And, the rest, as they say, is history. We started to hang out, realized quickly that this was more than friendship, and began spending as much time together as humanly possible. 

Now, 12 years after first meeting, 4 years after our first date, we are going back to West Michigan to get married.

Here's where the craft comes in.

I gathered 2 Michigan maps, 1 Illinois map, and a "floating" picture frame. (Along with tape, scissors, newspaper, and a pencil).

I used the newspaper to cut out a heart. I made sure that I liked the way that 3 hearts of the same size in the frame.

Once I found the size I wanted, I laid my 3 maps on the floor. I traced a heart out of each.

At the center of the first heart is our hometowns: WHERE WE MET

At the center of the second heart is Chicago: WHERE WE FELL IN LOVE

And at the center of the third heart are the towns where our ceremony and reception will be: WHERE WE WILL BE MARRIED

I cut them out and taped them in order in the frame. It took some adjusting to get the spacing just right.

I decided to hang it above our bed. This way, every time we go to bed or wake up, we can remember the important places in our relationship and the path that led us to June 30th.

Until next week, keep crafting!

SB