This Is My Beloved And This Is My Friend

He is my Husband. My Soulmate. My Companion. He is my Beloved and my only Lover. He is the best Friend I could ever have. I love this man with all my heart.

Toby has been a very special part of my heart and life since the first day we met. I'll never forget the first time he laid his eyes on me and literally turned around in his seat to get a better look at me. I was surprised but tried not to notice. The series of events that followed in the next 2 weeks confirmed my hopes: he was interested.

There was one thing I feared before I knew for sure that he liked me: I thought that he would think I was too young. He was of the ripe, mature age of 28 and I was just a young chick at 19. After we were in a serious relationship, he described to me how he was afraid I'd think him too old. Especially when we had first met and he made me guess his age...

"Are you 21?.. 22??"

The flushed smile on his face and his shaking head displayed that I was way off. When he said he was 28, I was too shocked to be able to hide my shock that it made me shockingly exclaim, "YOU are TWENTY EIGHT?" as if that was some ancient number. At that moment, I "knew" I would definitely be way too young.

Meanwhile, he was under the impression that I was only 17 and figured he'd have to wait a few years before getting serious at all. His relief and joy when he discovered I was actually all of 19 made it unsurprisingly another confirmation that I was THE ONE.

We were in love from the start. We loved each other long before we ever said, "I love you." The moment he said "I love you" was followed in the next breath with, "Will you marry me?" You can believe I was ready to say yes.

We courted for about 2 weeks and were engaged for 3 1/2 months. We couldn't wait to get married. We lived 530 miles apart so you can imagine how hard it was to be apart. We made up for it when we did get to be together whenever he visited but still the visits were too short.

Toby is the kind of man I always dreamed of having for a husband but never thought I'd get. His ways of loving me have been so sweet and special. I can't say we never fight because that would not be true. Yet, I hate to use the word "fight" because that doesn't describe it either. I guess I'll just say that he's not a push over and neither am I. There has never been an issue though, that we could not settle on together. Every discussion has always been followed with "a kiss and make up." We never go to bed mad.

When they said that marriage only gets better, I didn't believe it at first. But, now as I look back, I can clearly see that the honeymoon days were only the tip of the ice burg. It gets better than even that. We love each other and our commited to each other and everyday is another adventure in our life together.

Toby: he is my beloved and he is my friend. And I am his.