The world gets it so wrong.

I have been so worried about our anniversary because 20 years is a milestone and we should be taking a big trip. We should be on a plane or buying each other cars or at very least jewelry or something.

But our bank account didn’t get the memo.

So I wrote my husband some words as a gift. And recycled the card I forgot to give him from last year. (And then forgot to give it to him again, I am the worst).

And then with almost no money at all, my husband gave me a gift so good I am dead.

That’s right, I have died and I am writing to you from my grave.

First you have to know something about me. I love time travel with a love so big and insane that I believe time travel is 100% real.

And yesterday my husband confirmed what I already knew to be true. We actually time traveled, hence the dying.

But most importantly, do you know what we found when we went back in time?

We found us.

I hadn’t even realized we were missing but darn it all we were.

For our anniversary he surprised me by taking me back to the exact place we met, which happens to be at a nearby college campus (shout out UW-O). You guys….this man. I cannot even.

He had a walking tour set up of all our old places.

He collected video footage of the people that were there for our beginning (if you were in this know I cried at the sight of your actual face not to mention your words).

He dug out the flowered backpack he used to carry around campus for me and filled it with fun little gifts he handed to me throughout our tour.

He made reservations for us to stay in the dorms and had the room decorated just like it looked when we met, complete with the first picture he ever drew for me hanging on the wall.

He took us back in time to where it all began. With just the two of us. When we were each other’s everything.

He spent time and energy and effort thinking about us as his gift to me.

And in doing so he took us back to our roots…we time traveled.

My friends you too can go back in time and you just should.

I am here to tell you today that I get it. It is hard to move yourself out of your everyday cycle of life. Out of the pull of all you orbit around today…your kids and jobs and responsibilities and all the people who need you.

But your husband needs you too. And you need him.

Without the two of you there would be no crazy life you are juggling.

Going back to where it all began was the sweetest most amazing gift I could ever have received from my dear husband. It was a gift I had no idea I needed. We laughed and remembered and lived for just 24 hours in a world that was simpler and allowed us to focus only on each other. The past held only us.

Time travel is a thing my dear ones and you too may need to give or receive this gift today.

The world leads us to believe love is shown with money. But that is a lie.

This time travel cost him almost nothing.

But it gave us everything.

Where are the roots of you my friends? Travel back to them. Even if it’s not your anniversary. Even if it’s really hard. Even if you don’t have the time or the money. Even if it is only through a conversation on the couch after the kids are in bed. Even if it is only in your mind as you remind yourself how it all began. You can time travel anytime to anywhere. You hold this power.

Go back to that place where it all began. Where you became an us.

It is the best give you can give yourselves my friends. Take it from one who just got back from the past. It is full of gifts that are yours for the taking. Take them and share them with your love. You will be so happy you did.