In honor of Valentine’s Day, which is coming up, I’m going to share a snippet from our love story. It’s just a small piece of our story but it has a big message – just be you.

I met him one night when I was out with friends. It was a Friday night and I gave him my number, with no hopes of him using it. The next day, I got a text, and the day after, I got an invitation to come over to watch a movie.

Against my better judgment (I guess the heart beat out the mind here), I headed over, bringing my dog alone. I’ve seen her on guard and I fully believe she would hurt someone if she felt they were a threat.

We had a good night that night. We watched a couple of movies and joked around a lot. He had a friend over so it wasn’t just us which was a bit more comforting since he was still essentially a stranger to me.

At the end of the night, he walked me to my car and we kissed briefly before making plans for a real date later that week. The whole time, my sweet furbaby just watched with interest. This was all sweet and I had fully let my guard down – until I got home.

Shortly after getting home, I got a text from him checking to make sure I made it safe and asking me to send him a picture of myself. Remember when I said he was still essentially a stranger? Well, I didn’t feel comfortable sending him a picture of myself.

So, I sent him a picture of my foot. Yes…my foot. Luckily, my toes were painted nicely.

His response surprised me. I got back a simple “That’s going to be the strangest profile picture ever.”

To this day, my profile picture on my husband’s phone is still my foot. In fact, I send him an updated picture every year as a joke.

This is a cute story and it’s fun to tell but it’s the underlying message that’s more important to me. Up until that point, I hadn’t fully been myself in the relationships that I’d been in. I hadn’t allowed my quirky ways to shine through and I hadn’t always been comfortable being me.

The day I decided to change all of that and just be myself was the day I first kissed my husband. (The story I just shared.) As you continue on your journey of love, please please remember to just be you! It’s much more helpful in the end.