I recently married the man I have been dating since I was in high school. Ours is an interesting story of challenge and triumph, patience and reward.
When Cameron and I started dating, he was a senior and I was a junior in high school. We fell hard and fast for each other, rarely spending a day apart. We had been together for only a few months when we decided we would marry one day, but I had no idea then just how difficult that would be.
The day after he graduated from high school, Cameron shipped out for army basic training because he had enlisted when he was 17 and was anxious to fulfill his dream of being a soldier. Initially, I was devastated at the mere thought of being away from him for three excruciating months. However, as time passed, I grew accustomed to being away from him. He left for his first year of college after basic training, and I stayed home with my parents until I graduated from high school. But nothing could sway our decision to be together.
When I graduated from high school, I moved to Wyoming to be with him and attend the University of Wyoming. Even though I thought we had finally been apart for long enough, that the stars had aligned, and that we would finally be married and live happily ever after, I was mistaken.
A year after I had started classes, Cameron learned that he would be deployed to Iraq. Needless to say, the news postponed our marriage hopes and Cameron and I spent another year apart, but this time we were on opposite sides of the world. Still, nothing could sway our decision to be together.
And finally, this April, Cameron returned from that deployment. We planned to be married—as soon as possible—and so on August 3, 2010, we romantically strolled into the courthouse on our coinciding lunch breaks. The legal process was only supposed to take thirty minutes, so we figured we would have plenty of time.
I was anxious, but not about making Cameron my husband. Instead, I was overwhelmed that the moment was finally here while anticipating that something was going to go wrong at any moment. Sure enough, a problem arose. Cameron was in the process of filing paperwork to de-hyphenate his last name, which ultimately affected our ability to obtain a marriage certificate that day. If we were to be married before his name change was in place, our marriage would be void as soon as the paperwork was processed and his name was legally changed.
The name-change paperwork would not be officially valid until the close of business that day. Once again, circumstances postponed our wedding one more day; I waited…one more day.
Finally, on August 4 Cameron and I hurried to the courthouse to attempt to be married once again. We succeeded on this attempt. It took less than thirty minutes to fill out the paperwork, say our vows, get six certified certificates and return to work. I waited almost five years to marry my husband and I can tell you, it was totally worth the wait.