His mouse hovered on the “submit payment” button.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” I said.

“Definitely,” he told me. “I believe in you.” Those words meant more to me than I think even he knew.

“There’s just one catch,” Jon said. “You need to pay me back through money you earn with this.” We both looked at each other, our eyes searching for answers. Our nerves set in. This was a lot of money. We had just gotten married three months ago. Our budgets were already tight from buying a house the summer before.

There was a moment of silence, and then a click of his computer mouse. My husband, my greatest cheerleader, had just bought me my first educational course into photography.  He had just handed me the ticket to an online course that cost much more than my camera. He believed in me. He has from the start. And he expected me to be able to pay him back? How was I going to do that? The doubt set in.

“I could never charge people for something like this,” I told him. “I’ll never be good enough!” He explained to me that my attitude is the only thing that would hold me back. I didn’t know it immediately, but he was right.

This conversation happened one year ago. Fast forward to today and I have paid my husband back, upgraded my camera, bought a back-up, upgraded my lenses…I could go on and on with this.  I have so many amazing and beautiful weddings this year that I can’t even wrap my head around it (I’ve still got some dates open though so if you’re a 2018 bride let’s talk soon!). I’ve invested in several other educational courses and I’ll continue to, because I believe in lifelong learning. I have learned so much, and I believe that I will learn more and more as the days go on.

Oh 24, I loved you so much. We had such a fun time learning, growing, and dreaming. You brought a new joy and a gift into my life that I love sharing with others.  I can’t wait to see what 25 brings.

Also here are some pictures of my puppies because, duh. Puppies.