One Year...

... From Today I will be a married woman friends. HOLY COW! I am really excited to be able to call Michael my husband. One of the strangest things that I think about surrounding marriage for myself and my friends is the name change. I love the idea of having "Peddicord" as my new last name! Sometimes my mind wanders and I think of how weird it would be that every new person I meet one year from today will never know me as Dana Elliott, but instead to them I will always be Dana Peddicord. What if someone from my past met someone from my future and they had no idea I was married. Would they figure out I was their mutual friend? Would it really matter? Would they really care? Probably not... but its a weird thought that sometimes I let my mind wander to.

On a more serious, and slightly off the initial topic, note... I was letting my mind wander today reflecting back on our relationship and how it brought us to marriage. It hasnt always been an easy road to getting here, but I think we are better in our relationship for the mistakes made, lessons learned, and the many times one of us has had to put our pride aside and say "I'm Sorry". Two of the most simple words, but often times the most difficult to say. After reading a dear friends blog this week regarding mistakes and how we all make them... it really got me thinking about how powerful the words "I'm Sorry" can actually be. And how blessed I am to have a very forgiving fiance. I am far from perfect and have had to use those simple words many a time... more then I'd like to admit actually. To be honest I am wrong a lot more then I admit and I really need to get better at using "I'm Sorry". (Hopefully Michael will miss that last sentence when he reads this.) Anyway, it's something I've added to my 'To Do List'.

Think of a time when you were the most mad, upset, and hurt from someone making a mistake that broke you. Now thinking of that feeling, do you remember the relief you felt from the simple phrase "I'm Sorry"? Even though you may still have been mad at that person and hurt by that person, when they express remorse and understanding for your hurt, you immediately are able to rethink the situation and hopefully forgive it and move on. Put the shoe on the other foot now and recall a moment when you made a mistake and you need to apologize. (I know its hard since we are all so perfect)  How good did you feel after you said "I'm Sorry" and even though you didnt know in that moment of regret if you would be forgiven, the words themselves, leaving your mouth provided a slight relief and even a little hope.

Although it may be very difficult sometimes to utter those little words, they are so powerful and can quickly change the direction of any arguement, hurt, and even the path for your life. I can 100% say that if I were not able to use "I'm Sorry" and mean it in the past, my relationship with Michael would be very different, and maybe not at all. Saying "I'm Sorry", and I will emphasise MEANING IT, changed the direction of our path. I am so grateful. I am so happy. I am so lucky that forgiveness exists. It does exist more then we think and people are surprisely willing to forgive. I think mostly because being hurt and mad is so exhausting, draining even. Plus, what people really want  is to be past the hurt and mad and get back to what they love. What they love is often times the person who is on the other side of that "I'm Sorry".

So for practice and to get the ball rolling...I'll start... I'M SORRY this blog post is so long and I appreciate those of you who have sifted through my banter today. :)