Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Real People in Love: Heidi & Chris

My going on and on about how much I love high school sweethearts must have really stuck because this week's Real People in Love have been together since high school. Heidi is the woman behind Run Around Aroo, a place where she blogs about her adventures in running.


How old are you & Chris? 
I am 24, he is 26.


How long have you been together?
We've been dating since we were in High School (16 and 18) and married for just over two years.



When's your anniversary?
January 9th- dating (2003) and wedding (2009)

What are your occupations?
Well, I have a major in marketing and management but don't do it justice- I work in the travel industry. He is a computer network technician.

How did you meet?
High school... we had a big group of friends that hung out together and a lot of my girl friends dated his guy friends. We were the first of three of the couples to actually get married.



How did you get engaged?
We got the engagement on a bit of a whim. It stayed in our safe for 1.5 years before we told anyone about it. The night before I left to study abroad in South Korea for 2 months he asked if I'd like to wear "the ring." I told him if I was wearing it to South Korea he wasn't going to be getting it off my finger. It was a done deal.


Tell us about your wedding day (not necessarily elements but feelings too):
Honestly, we had been "engaged" for three years, living together for four years and ready for this to be official. Or at least I was. The ceremony seemed to take forever (it was only 15 minutes!) I wanted to get done with the formal stuff, take some fun pictures in the snow (winter wedding in the Colorado Rockies) and then just hang out. I was not the blushing bride, I was the giddy, lets-make-this-official nutcase bride!


I think it all really hit home when his dad gave me a hug and said welcome to the family. His family is crazy (well, so is mine, but that doesn't count) and my mind went "holy crap, I have in-laws!"

Define Love:
Love is simple happiness. Happiness in being around the person. Happiness in knowing that he/she is always going to be there to hug you. Happiness in knowing that, even though he/she is driving you completely crazy, you will also enjoy their company to some extent. Happiness in knowing that you are both perfectly content spending a Sunday afternoon on the couch watching far too much Netflix. To us, love really is that feeling of true feeling of happiness and contentment.



Really, we have already hit the "old married couple" stage...
What is the toughest part of being in a committed relationship?
Thinking about more than just yourself. And then when you realize it is not all about you the biggest challenge is thinking about the two of you without being resentful of the fact it isn't all about you.



When changing colleges this was hard for me-I could have spent a full year in South Korea if it was just me, but it wasn't. I had him to think about too. In the end I'd prefer to have just 2 months in South Korea and Chris to come home to! 

What is the best part?
Someone is always there. I always have someone to depend upon to be honest with me, to love me for who I am, support my crazy whims and to listen to me whine and complain. And I do the same for him.


What is the best day the two of you have had together?
Honestly, I can't pick just one day. Not to be a gushy romantic (I'm not, promise!) but we have a lot of great days. I think some of our best days have been in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado snowboarding on massive mountains and just enjoying each other's company. Or mountain biking... being out in the middle of no where on a 90 degree day convinced this was the stupidest idea ever but still happy to be hanging out together.

What makes you different from other couples?
I have been told that we bicker a lot. I suppose we do, but it is not angry bickering. It is more of our way of communicating. It is not unusual for us to have a conversation that goes something like this...



"Let's go out for dinner, where do you want to go?"
"It's your idea, you pick."
"Yeah, but you are the picky eater, you pick."
"Fine, I pick Culver's."
"Ugh, you always pick Culver's... pick somewhere else."
"No, that is what I pick."
"Fine, we can just stay home!"


This all goes down as we are getting our stuff together to leave the house. We ened up going out to eat but it usually isn't the originally mentioned location. We are special like that!

What is your favorite thing to do together?
When the weather allows for it we like to go out snowboarding and mountain biking. When we are feeling extra lazy we have no problem sitting on the couch and bickering (see above) about what to watch.


Do you have a song?
Nope. We never really got around to that part of the relationship. We have songs that remind us of each other, but there is no "our song."

What is the most essential element of making it?
Communication. Hands down, communication.



I also say that it is important for a couple to know how to fight. Odd, but true. It is foolish to think you will never get into a fight. It is responsible to realize that everyone has their own tactics in an argument- you need to learn how the other person fights so you can have disagreements and then move on. It is an important part of communication. Not to encourage fighting or anything, but how do you have a discussion or debate without knowing the spatting tactics of the other person?


It took Chris and I a while to figure this out, but once we did we started to really talk more.  

What are your hopes for the future?
Some people will talk about kids here... not us. At least not now. Right now we are really focusing on loving our lives, each other and taking in everything that we possibly can. Oh, and spoiling our poor cat rotten while continually threatening to get another.


Anything else the world needs to know about love?

It is out there. It doesn't always make sense, but it is out there. Love never makes sense... don't try to make sense of it, you'll drive yourself crazy! Also, you learn a lot about yourself while you are learning to love someone else!


My queue is empty so if  you'd like to participate in the Real People in Love series just shoot me an email!

3 comments:

Wye... said...

Cute couple, great interview.

Deidre said...

This is a great interview! They are so cute together!

Pamela said...

Wow!!! So sweet and cute couple. Made for each other. Thanks for sharing.

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