Eleven Years and Lessons Learned {+ A Look at Forever My Girl: In Theaters 1/19} #forevermygirl

**Gift certificates received for consideration. All thoughts are 100% my own.

Eleven years ago today, I did something that was very much against character. You see, I'm very much the cautious type. I do nothing without thinking and overthinking it to death. I don't do impulsive, only well planned and weighing every single what if. Some might even say I have a tendency to talk myself out of even the best decisions out of fear of those what ifs.

So, getting married to someone I had just met in person for the first time not even three months before? Well... that, for me, was CRAZY!

And yet, eleven years ago today that's just what I did. I walked down the aisle and at nineteen years old made the most impulsive and one of the best decisions of my life in marrying my now husband. Throughout these years we have seen many friends get married, and sadly seen many of those marriages fall apart very quickly. So how did we, seemingly barely knowing each other make it this far? I suppose it goes without saying that from the beginning our relationship was anything but typical.

I think in dating today, there are a lot of false pretenses. That's probably always been true of dating I suppose. You work hard to get yourself looking your very best, you watch every word you say and focus much of the time on the small talk. Add in the pressures of social media... we can Google our potential mate and find their entire social media history just like that. Who needs deep conversations, when you can text 24/7, right? Except it's those conversations that truly help to build that foundation.

You see, when my husband and I 'met', we were a half a world apart. He was deployed to Iraq and I was in a small town in Indiana. Not exactly your typical beginnings. We met over Myspace, but with our unique circumstances, we used that lack of personal contact to our advantage. There were no false pretenses, we skipped the small talk and went right into the conversations that mattered. We knew each other better in those few months from a distance than many do after much longer with typical dating, texting, etc. And so... how have we made it this far? Today, I'm sharing a few tips gained from my experience:

• Go back to basics. You don't have to be countries apart to avoid those typical dating issues social media brings. Just unplug. Don't rely on texts, don't Instagram every moment, just live in it... dig deeper, be real. Go back to a good ol' fashioned courtship where its not about the physical or the illusions, but about truly getting to know one another.
• Be stubborn. Relationships aren't always easy. But when you love someone, they're worth fighting for... be prepared to fight for them. 
• Give second chances. In life, mistakes are inevitable. Sometimes they're big, sometimes they're small, but like I said... .like it or not, they are inevitable. Learn from them, grow from them, and use them to make you better and stronger. 
• Celebrate love. Whether its the occasional date night, silly gifts on anniversaries or just acknowledging your spouse, do it. Don't dwell on the negatives... we all have them, but celebrate the positives instead. 

And nothing celebrates love better than a good old fashioned love story, right? The new film Forever My Girl certainly has that covered:



Forever My Girl tells the story of music super-star Liam Page (Alex Roe) who left his bride, Josie (Jessica Rothe), at the altar choosing fame and fortune instead. However, Liam never got over Josie, his one true love, nor did he ever forget his Southern roots in the small community where he was born and raised. When he unexpectedly returns to his hometown for the funeral of his high school best friend, Liam is suddenly faced with the consequences of all that he left behind.  Forever My Girl is an uplifting romantic film about second chances.  It releases in theaters on January 19.

Whether you're celebrating an anniversary or a romantic date night away from the kids, I for one cannot wait to get swept up in the romance of it all. Because after eleven years of marriage, I can honestly still say, romance is certainly worth celebrating.

What advice would you have for new marriages? Any lessons you learned along the way? Are you excited to enjoy Forever My Girl in theaters?