A box of us: A love story in pieces

I have a box.

At first glance, it just looks like a pretty storage bin with a map of the world on the outside. But inside… it’s our whole world. Our life together. Every layer, every chapter, every up and down.

Open it, and you’ll see pieces of us.

On the lid, I decorated it with snapshots that mean everything:

- A picture of Adrian and me from our first Christmas together

-A photo of Little Harbor, one of our favorite beaches in Florida

- A shot of the mountains we explored during our cabin vacation in blue ridge mountains and a picture of our late beloved Axel we took there too.

-A black and white collage of smushy-faced kisses and giggles that captured us perfectly

And then inside? It’s magic ✨️

It’s a collection of mementos...some small, some silly...some sacred...all layered like the seasons we’ve survived.

There’s a pink earplug...because he snores, and eventually, I had to cave.

A dolphin 🐬 figurine, because when we met at Kay Jewelers, he called me “baby dolphin.” Our boss back then was like a shark trying to steal everyone's sales...so naturally, she became “baby shark,”🦈as it was right around the time that annoying song came out lol Adrian was “baby seal" The baby Seal 🦭 is Also in the box ❤️ It was an inside joke that somehow became part of our love language. Even now, eight years later, we still call each other those names. We even have a big plush baby shark stuffie in there too!

There’s a crab 🦀 figurine because I’m a Cancer, and my sass matches the sign.

A pen from Planet Fitness where we signed up to get fit and strong together.

A pink “Happy Home” card from our 2-year anniversary in our home here in Virginia, our realtor mailed us with little coffee cards inside to our favorite local coffee shop.

Dried roses Adrian gave me...fragile, yet still standing. One specifically from the night we eloped!

Love notes, written in all seasons-some tucked inside envelopes, others burned around the edges like movie props.

Then there’s the Helzberg Diamonds box...the one he proposed to me with. And right beside it? The "I Am Loved" pin that came on a little bear he gifted me from the same store, along with other jewelry he's gotten me over the years.

A compass I gave him that says, “So you can always find your way back to me.”

A tiny tube of lipbalm because I'm a chapstick addict ha

Movie stubs, Cinema club cards, Hotel key cards from our travels and transitions,

A laundry tag from when our washer broke in North Carolina where we were getting our clothes professionally washed,dried and folded between moves, exhausted but still in it together...looking back I miss those days...

You’ll also find my Nexplanon card, My old driver’s license that says my Maiden name “Adams.” Boarding passes from flights.

Notes he’s written on flower deliveries..

My first and only speeding ticket from our first week living in North Carolina (classic me).

Coupons for full-body massages,

Backstreet Boys concert tickets, because we screamed the lyrics like we were sixteen again ha

A tiny fake baby roach from a prank I pulled on him

A mint chocolate truffle gifted to Adrian by my grandparents on my dad's side...

A little Baby Yoda pin.

A “Home is Where the Heart Is” sticker from our first home in North Carolina.

A glass deer head from a whiskey glass we used on our winter cabin trip in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The glass broke, but we kept the deer head. We had Bailey’s S'mores in those glasses under twinkle lights and mountain air...One of our best memories...

There’s a Q-tip...because somehow, mine always end up on the floor, and he never lets me live it down.

A broken “Ring for Sex” bell from our first trip to a sex shop-yeah, we kept it. Of course we did lmao

Hospital bracelets of ours... Because we’ve both been admittted and taken care of eachother in the hospital...

Dating, engaged, married...we’ve walked through sickness, fear, and healing, and prayer side by side.

There’s also an “F” sticker from our church we've been going to during our time in Virginia these past 2 years... It’s not just a church; it’s our spiritual home. That sticker represents the foundation of our faith, our growth, and the God we continue to build our marriage around.

And maybe the most special detail of all?

We actually have two boxes.

We picked them out together at Marshall’s. The memory box, filled with our past, our love, our journey.

The wedding box-bigger and brimming with our future.

Because while we’ve already eloped...by law and under God...we’re still planning our full wedding. The one we’ll have surrounded by family and friends, when we move back home in Florida, when the time is right.

One box holds the love that got us here.

The other? The dreams that will carry us forward.

This box isn’t just a container.

It’s a time capsule. A testimony. A love letter written in receipts and rose petals and roadmaps.

We loved each other for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health-long before we ever said those words.

This is what love looks like for us.

Messy. Honest. Sentimental. Sacred.

Sometimes silly. Always real.

And absolutely ours.

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“And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”-Colossians 3:14

Kristen, Unfiltered Xo 💋