Just Like Riding a Bike.

This week was my first birthday as a newlywed. Birthdays have a funny way of pulling us in different directions. On one hand you remember the past birthdays, the events that led you to this new, older year. On the other hand you look forward to all of the birthdays you still have ahead. I felt that pull this week. I kept remembering that bike birthday.

Five or six years old feels a lot like twenty. I feel young, inexperienced, but excited and ready. In some aspects getting married makes me feel like I've tipped over into the gravel on my new pink bike, and like my five or six year old bike experiences, I have little interest in getting back up. The difference between five or six and twenty, is Jake. He waits to pull me to my feet, wipe the gravel off my hands, and the dust off my Old Navy Rockstar jeans.

As you might remember, Jake brought home a little blue bike with green wheels last week. It's new but the frame was a little beat up, and the spokes were dusty from being on the shelf so long. The stickers were peeling off, but I was happy. I thought the surprises were over.

My Sweetheart gave that little bike a makeover. He carefully took the bike apart, sanded it down, and painted each piece. It was a time consuming project, a little harder than I think he thought at first, but he never complained. He just figured it out. And he figured it out with his big orbit commercial smile on his face.

When the bike was all ready to go, Jake scheduled me a photo shoot with his sister Daisy. He said he needed some cute pictures of me and his project.

I have a new bike birthday to look back on.

We can learn a lot from our bikes. I rode mine to work today and parked it outside. I put the kickstand up and stood a few steps away. I was just looking at it. My husband is willing to give me the world. Not only that, but he's willing to change it into something sweeter if he can. I’m looking forward to the next twenty birthdays with him, and the twenty after that. I love my husband. I love my bike. I’ll keep pedaling with him. I think that’s how I’ll stay this happy. ​