5 best photos

Linking up with some lovelies today to share our 5 best photos. I thought this would be a fun, but difficult challenge...choosing just five pics. But once I sat down and really thought about what matters most to me and what experiences have been most impactful, it was really easy to chose. 

I think most women will probably choose a wedding photo, but the pic above is one of my all time favorites with my husband Tom {even though you can't see our faces ha!} It was taken during this trip, and it really does speak 1000 words. It's reflective of the relationship I want us to always have, one based around exploring our sense of adventure together. I never want things to grow stagnant or too comfortable. And while no marriage is perfect, after almost 10 years together, we're still surprising and challenging each other. 

This past winter my not-so-baby sister and I traveled through Europe together. Blog posts coming soon I promise, as I'm finally catching up. We have an 11 year age gap, but when she was born, we were instantly close. In many ways, I nurtured her as a mother would a child...bathing her and teaching her to read. But it was never a mother-daughter type relationship, it was always the love shared between two sisters. I remember one Halloween in particular when she was little and we banned my parents from trick-or-treating because she wanted it to be just us girls. And I wondered to myself, how can my best friend be such a little person? I left home for college when she was still in elementary school and have always been fearful that we would grow apart. Instead, we've managed to adjust our relationship to a friendship between two adults. It has always been and will always be just us girls. 

I've never been a water baby and never will be. After having multiple panic attacks and needing an inhaler, my parents eventually gave up on giving me swimming lessons as a child. It wasn't until adulthood that I finally learned how to swim, thanks to the help of a xanex or two to fend off those panic attacks. Too bad 7 year old me wasn't allowed to be drugged--kidding...well sort of. This pic is above is from just a few months ago in Mexico. And it's hard to belief that I was swimming in a bottom-less sinkhole enclosed by an underground cave with bats whizzing over my head above. If that's not concurring a fear, I don't know what is. Being terrified of the water tortured me for years. But if I can face this, I can face anything. 

College is supposed to be the best time of your life. Well, for me it wasn't. College was simply a stepping stone to getting accepted into grad school. Unfortunately, it's not uncommon for students to get rejected from dental school multiple times, so while I was an undergrad, I worked my butt off. I took a full course load on top of working 30+hours a week. Not to mention volunteering and interning at dental offices on a weekly basis. By the time I graduated with my degree (B.S. in Biology), I had amassed thousands of intern and volunteer hours in the dental field. Not only did I get accepted to multiple dental schools the first time I applied, there were lots of scholarships attached to my acceptance letters. College may not have been the time of my life, but I don't regret a moment of my sacrifice. Can't wait to replace this picture above with my doctorate degree graduation. 

PJ will always be my forever puppy. Even at nearly 5 years old, people always mistake him as a puppy thanks to his cute size and constant energy. I'm pretty sure the pic above captures his spirit best. But recently, we've had a bit of a health scare with him. He started losing a lot of weight fast and was essentially wasting away. And while we finally have a diagnosis to explain what was wrong, he's not out of the woods yet. 

My five pics definitely give some insight into my life and wheat's important to me. What would your 5 photos be?