I have always enjoyed sharing my elopement story with anyone who asks and now that I have the platform to share with so many more, why not?! You may notice the occasional Southwest design on a coffee mug or a candle or other product in my shop. Those items are created truly out of my love for the places my husband and I explored along the way of our elopement trip. I'm going to take the next few blog entries to share all of the details from our elopement diary with you. I hope you enjoy and I hope you take some time to explore these beautiful places either on your own or with your loved ones. 

Background:

My husband and I actually met when we were in middle school. We "dated" for one week if you would even count that. It was the usual, awkward relationship where you just kinda look at each other in the hallway but don't speak. And since this relationship pre- dated cell phones just slightly, the only conversations we had included land line calls with the high hopes that a parent didn't answer the phone- which NEVER happened. 

(Christopher overlooking the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Dec. 2022)

We continued our friendship throughout high school and a few years post high school before ultimately becoming completely in the dark about what the other person was doing with their lives. That all changed in the Spring of 2022 when Christopher found me via social media and didn't hesitate reaching out. The only reason he even joined social media again was in hopes of finding me. He figured I was already married and had a family due to the amount of time that had passed by, but was pleasantly surprised to find me totally single and I was so excited to hear from him. We were both struggling with "starting over" due to end of long- term relationships. It was so nice to have someone to talk to who was experiencing  the same emotions and learning to navigate a new life. 

(Mule Deer we spotted as we hiked out of the Grand Canyon along the Bright Angel  Trail. Dec 2022)

It wasn't long before we both came to the conclusion that we should just get married. Why not, right?! We discussed how we had always been each others constant even though there were periods where we just kind of disappeared and did our own thing. No matter what, if one of us reached out, the other person was always up to hang out or talk. We had so much in common and it all just made sense to us. We decided an elopement would work best for us based on our family dynamic and also just age. This isn't popular opinion but I honestly just felt "too old" for a big wedding. All of my friends were already married and had families and it just seemed to me that I would burden them by asking them to do all of the wedding things with me. I'm sure they wouldn't have seen it that way at all, but I'm an overthinker which ALWAYS leads me to doing things on my own rather than asking someone else. That is a totally a me problem. I have identified it, yet have done nothing to fix it so anyway, heres to a lifelong of doing things the hard way. 

I'll see you all for Elopement Story, Part II: Days 1-4 in the next post! 

(We will 100% take the mules to the bottom of the Grand Canyon the next time we visit. Our legs were DONE after that hike!)