This Sunday Vitaliy and I will be celebrating 6 years of marriage. I’m still in denial that it has already been 6 years.

As we plan how we want to celebrate, we can’t help but reminisce our epic trip to Chicago last year to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. We wanted to go back down memory lane, to visit all of the places where our love both started and blossomed. It was honestly one of the best trips we’ve ever taken together.

When we were at college in Chicago, one of the things that became a Saturday morning tradition was to walk to Einstein Bagels for breakfast. It was about a mile walk, which during a Chicago winter can feel more like a 5 mile trek. Though the wind was painfully piercing at times, all that mattered was that he was by my side.

Vitaliy and I have been through a lot over the last 6 years. It’s hard to put into words how special this trip was for us as a couple. I can remember sitting at Einstein’s as a college student trying to decipher my feelings for Vitaliy and what future we would have together. He was a graduating senior; I still had two years left. He was from Ukraine and could possibly move back. I didn’t imagine my life outside of the Midwest. It was all so unclear.

But there we sat at the same table, now as husband and wife, having lived through things that we could never have imagined as two college kids in love. God is faithful. We had much to celebrate last year and even more to celebrate this year.

Have you taken a trip down memory lane with your loved one recently? I cannot recommend it enough! Revisit one of your early traditions. Redo your first date. It will conjure up fond memories and feelings towards one another. While remembering how it all started, you will walk away encouraged to keep pressing forward. Together.