Iowa Radio Host Has His First Wedding Anniversary! [PHOTOS]

365 days ago, I added a new title to what I'm calling my "life resume." On September 30, 2023, I became a husband.

Other names on my "life resume" include brother,  son,  friend, and a radio broadcaster. I'm thankful to have all of these other titles in my life and I love and appreciate them for different reasons, but there is no title I love having more than "Kori's husband."

Kori and I have been together for over 8 years and now we can say we've been married for 1 year! Are we the perfect couple? Absolutely not. We have our good days and our bad days. We have moments where we bicker or argue, get annoyed at one another, get impatient, and everything that typical couples deal with.

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Here's some free advice for anyone who worries that their relationship isn't "perfect." There's no such thing as the perfect couple. That might exist in Disney movies and TV shows but in the real world with people who have flaws, being a perfect couple isn't possible. You can strive to be the best you can be, together, and that's about all you can ask.

What I love most about our relationship is we truly tackle so many things together. We've learned over the years that as a team, there isn't anything we can't do. She's been with me every step of the way since we decided to move to Iowa which is further away from our friends and family, and we've relied heavily on each other for the past (almost) 3 years since coming here. We've learned that no matter where we live, as long as we're together, we're going to be okay.

We've done a lot of exploring around the country in our first year of marriage. In 30 years, when I look back on our first year of being married, I'll remember it as one giant adventure. Not only figuratively but also, literally. We've put more miles on our cars this past year than I can ever remember in previous years.

In the past 365 days, we've visited around 10 different states with our dog, we've visited parts of Iowa that we had never seen before, and we've truly got to explore the country together. Our dog doesn't know how lucky she has it...she's been to more states in 1 year than some people see in their entire lives!

I can pretty much guarantee that not every year will be like this first one. Some years, we'll have less time to travel than this past one or we won't have as much time to go visit new places but I think we're both ready to enjoy more weekends hanging out at home.

We are at that age where it feels like every weekend in the summer has some kind of wedding, baby shower, or family event that we're lucky enough to be invited to. I have a feeling that will start to slow down next year and we'll have more weekends to sit at home and do absolutely nothing.

I feel like getting married didn't change our relationship very much. We had been together for 7 years before saying "I do" and we didn't need to sign a piece of paper or wear a wedding ring to know how much we care about each other. Some people say that the first year of marriage is the hardest but I never felt like that.

The only thing that changed for me was I had a new title that meant more to me than I thought it would. Being "Kori's husband" is something I'm extremely protective of and I couldn't be more proud to be by her side, as I get a front-row seat to watch her accomplish everything she sets out to do. She recently got her master's degree in social work. I watched her bust her a** nearly every day to achieve that goal of hers and watching her get through that made me love her even more.

Some days, weeks, months, or years might be tougher than others but I wouldn't pick anyone else to navigate the excitement of life with.

Happy anniversary Kori, I'll love you forever.