FOUR Years.

Boy is this weird to say - something I certainly never would have imagined coming out of my mouth - I have now been in St. Louis for FOUR YEARS (as of May 3rd)!
I absolutely cannot believe how fast time has passed these last four years. I've now lived in St. Louis longer then I lived in Gainesville. I still tell people "I'm new here" and "I just moved here" - I guess that needs to officially stop since often I know more about STL then the locals because we really make an effort to investigate and find new areas and new things, much more so then you would if you were from a particular area (for instance, even though I was raised in Tally the newbies probably know about a lot that I don't because they're exploring and I never really needed to or took the time because I kept to my same old things).
Four years ago I loaded up most of my belongings in a storage unit in Tallahassee and Cody flew down to meet me. My brother graduated from FSU on Friday so I wanted to wait to leave until I saw his graduation - not only because it's a great accomplishment but because I still felt bad for missing his high school graduation because Cody and I were out of town that weekend boating in Tampa with friends. He graduated on Friday, we said our good-byes on Saturday and left Sunday morning - me with my necessities packed in my little car (clothes, turtles, fish, etc. - left the cats with my mom and grandma for the time being) and him on his motorcycle that he was driving from Tally up to STL. After a day of on and off thunderstorms (when I was constantly frightened of Cody on the bike), we stoped for the night in Cadiz, Kentucky when it was so dark I couldn't tell Cody's motorcyles lights from the semi-truck lights in front of him. Upon getting the fish and turtles out of the car and in the hotel, we realized that during the drive one of the fish had babies (until recently we still had some of the babies but then with the winter power outage they all died). Fish eat baby fish so we had to scoop them out and put them in a water bottle for the remainer of the trip.
Monday afternoon we saw the Arch rising in the distance and shortly thereafter we arrived to my new home - Cody's smallish two bedroom apartment in the burbs. We had expected it to be fun but somewhat difficult adjustment moving in together, but it wasn't at all. It was fun, but the adjustment wasn't at all difficult like we had expected. We expected at least a few space disputes and stuff, but it was actually very natural and easy.
I got a job doing retail in May (had to pay that car payment and I hated the idea of Cody (or anyone) having to support me) while I studied for the Bar Exam in July. The cats moved up in September (Cody's been in love ever since) and I was sworn into the Missouri Bar in October. I got my law job in December and started in January. After paying off debt and saving every extra penny, we finally bought a house in June (I still consider this a great accomplishment) and I moved my storage unit stuff up here (furniture, etc.). The house has been a project, but a joy since. We got engaged that fall (still one of the coolest days of my life), went to the World Cup the next summer, and married the next spring. Marriage, while some say it's a lot of work, has been an absolute joy. Since then Cody's started school and has finished about 1/4 of his MBA. I've now got a new job, my dream job, that starts next month. While it seems like the four years have flown by, we've managed to fit a lot into them, I guess. On the other hand though, we've missed the birth of a niece and a nephew, haven't been there for any of their birthdays or milestones, haven't even met our niece (who turns one next week) and have missed a number of family events and celebrations. Everything's a trade-off in life.
I never in a million years would have guessed that we'd end up in St. Louis Missouri, but it's all worked out very well and I certainly can't complain about life (except the winter - I can always complain about winter). :) Four years down, how many to go . . . . .????