When we first started dating we were constantly doing fun things together and took tons of photos. We loved sharing these photos with each other but eventually there were too many to put on Facebook. It had gotten to the point where all of our Facebook friends were claiming that we were taking up their whole newsfeed. (Woops.) So, Jacob created secret albums that only he and I could access with the titles You & Me 1… You & Me 2… all the way to You & Me 13. Being such a romantic, I latched onto those words. I loved how they perfectly described us. We always talked about how we were fully able to be ourselves with each other. I loved that these words represented that we were still ourselves even though we were together.
So, when I created a journal for us to trade back and forth during the portion of our relationship in which we were long distance (not really since we lived 2 hours apart), this was the name I gave it… You & Me. In the first few pages I explained to Jacob that I wanted to be able to write to each other not only because I wanted to remember what our relationship was like in the beginning, but also because sometimes thoughts can be more clearly communicated through writing. I loved that the title of the journal gave us the freedom to say what we were thinking and fully be ourselves, even when being vulnerable was scary.
Over the next year we wrote notes back and forth, sometimes about what we had done that day, sometimes sharing the encouragement we had heard in church that week, sometimes being so lovey- dovey that I am embarrassed to read it now, and one time even using a page for an old piece of gum. I wonder which one of us did that. This journal became such a special part of us and our story throughout the year that we exchanged it because of what it represented: him being him and me being me and being better together.
It seems so simple and yet I think sometimes people can lose who they are when they get into a relationship, or worse, they become a worse version of themselves. I always wanted to find a man that would bring out the best parts of my personality and maybe even help me get rid of the worst sides of me. I can honestly say that he has done that, just by being himself.
I will always remind Jacob of the words he randomly chose to be the title of our Facebook albums that have meant so much to me throughout our relationship…
“You & Me. You can be you. I can be me. And it’s together that we’re better versions of ourselves.”
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