We weren’t rushing, we told ourselves. We wanted to be ready, financially and emotionally. From the outside, it probably looked like we already had everything figured out.

“We’ve got time,” Daniel would say whenever the topic came up. “Let’s get the house payments down first, maybe take that trip to Italy we keep talking about.”

I’d nod and smile, thinking we were building toward something beautiful together.

The foundation felt strong. We rarely fought, split the household duties fairly, and still laughed at each other’s terrible jokes over morning coffee.

Sure, he could be a bit