Flashing lights, orange barrels, neon vests, and big machines are all tell tale signs that a construction zone is coming up. During my two years driving between St. Cloud and the cities I have seen many different projects being worked on. Apartment buildings and highways are the main two that come to mind. The landscape changes with the passage of time. The work in the beginning takes a lot of time, and honestly, it often makes me wonder if they are even working at all sometimes. But after the foundation is finished and the plumbing and electrical are run. the frame flies up and then solid walls tend to follow. Of course it also is long after those walls go up before the building can open up. Appliances, painting, flooring, etc etc etc all need to be in place. I bring this up tonight because I have been doing a lot of reflecting on my and Jayme’s situation.

In many ways, a relationship goes through stages of construction as well.

1. Planning and landscaping: Here you are preparing yourself to build a relationship on, and for me this meant figuring out what was important to me, what I liked in a person, what I didn’t like. This step is for making mistakes, and while I made plenty, each one of them prepared me and my heart for the relationship that was going to be my last.
2. Foundation and utilities: Once you found the right “contractor” it is time to start and develop the basis of your relationship. people can see the changes right away, the newness of what is going on, but what you cannot see is the care taken to insure what is started is on level ground. Jayme and Me had an immediate attraction and a magnetism that showed others around us we were happy. Happy is nice, but it will only burn for so long without a solid foundation to rely on, so we invested painstakingly into each other and what would become the basis for our relationship. Trust, honest communication, and thoughtfulness. These pillars keep our relationship from crumbling under the weight of the future.
3. Framework: Once the foundation is set it is time to build memories and a life together. The frame is small things, not of substance, it is time together, rides in the car, dates, concerts, and planning a future. The memories that you make come quick and will continue to grow, rising faster and faster. and while they are the bones of your relationship, their main goal is to support the substance within.
4. Interior finishing: These are the pieces of our relationship you cannot see, but are what mean the most to us. This blog has given anyone who reads it a glimpse into what makes us function and love, but it is just that, a glimpse. They cannot see the moments we celebrate our success together, the attentive daily conversations about bowel movements or who said what at work today. While the framework and exterior of our relationship shows the world what we represent, it doesn’t show how we have gotten here, The little things, the details that make our outward appearance what it is.

And just like the greatest structures in the world, relationships that stand the test of time all need renovation and to be cared for. So I intend to always care for the relationship me and Jayme have built.