For years, I thought my husband choosing me was the luckiest accident of my life. Then I found a letter he had written the night before our wedding, and one sentence made me question everything I believed about how we met.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell\u2026 you\u2019re beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n
I turned around so fast I nearly dropped my coffee.<\/p>\n
The man standing behind me in the bakery was ridiculously handsome.<\/p>\n
He was tall, confident, and the kind of guy women actually turned their heads to look at.<\/p>\n
\nAnd he was smiling at me.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
My first thought was that he had to be making fun of me.<\/p>\n
I looked around for his friends, a hidden camera, or someone laughing.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
So I rolled my eyes and faced the counter again.<\/p>\n
A second later, he tapped my shoulder.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cCan I get your number?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would you need my number?\u201d<\/p>\n
He laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I\u2019d like to take you out for coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nI was completely baffled.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nNo guy had ever randomly asked for my number before, especially not someone who looked like him.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
I had spent most of my life being the woman men described as \u201cnice\u201d or \u201csweet,\u201d never the woman strangers crossed a room to meet.<\/p>\n
But somehow, I gave him my number.<\/p>\n
His name was Luke.<\/p>\n
He texted me that evening.<\/p>\n
Our first date lasted nearly four hours.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nBy the third, I was still waiting for him to admit there had been some misunderstanding.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
A few weeks later, I was dating the hottest man I had ever met.<\/p>\n
And that insecurity never really left me.<\/p>\n
It stayed even when he told me he loved me, introduced me to his friends, and made it clear he was serious about us.<\/p>\n
His parents were another story.<\/p>\n
His mother, Diane, made her opinion obvious during one of our first dinners together.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\nShe looked me up and down when Luke introduced us.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
I tried to ignore it.<\/p>\n
Dinner was polite enough, but while I was helping Luke\u2019s father carry plates into the kitchen, I heard Diane speaking to Luke in the hallway.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you sure about this relationship?\u201d<\/p>\n
There was a pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cSure about what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cYou know what I mean.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cNo, Mom. I don\u2019t know what you mean.\u201d<\/p>\n
I walked into the kitchen before I could hear more.<\/p>\n
I was humiliated.<\/p>\n
On the drive home, I stared out the window until Luke finally asked what was wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe they\u2019re right,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cYour parents.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cAbout what?\u201d<\/p>\n
I swallowed.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n\u201cYou could be with anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luke immediately pulled the car over.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat? No,\u201d he said. \u201cI only want to be with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cYou don\u2019t have to say that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not saying it because I have to.\u201d<\/p>\n
He took my hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cMia, I want you.\u201d<\/p>\n
And he kept proving it.<\/p>\n
When I lost my job, he stayed.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nHe never made me feel like a burden while I sent applications and watched my savings disappear.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
When I finally found another position, he celebrated as though he had gotten the offer himself.<\/p>\n
Then, my sister died.<\/p>\n
I fell apart.<\/p>\n
There was no prettier way to describe it.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nSome mornings, getting dressed felt impossible.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
I forgot appointments, ignored phone calls, and sometimes started crying because something small reminded me of her.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nLuke practically carried me through it.<\/p>\n
He cooked, handled phone calls, drove me places when I could not trust myself to concentrate, and sat beside me during the nights when I couldn\u2019t stop crying.<\/p>\n
He never told me to move on.<\/p>\n
He never made my grief about him.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nOne night, months after the funeral, I apologized.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not much fun anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luke looked genuinely confused.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are you apologizing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause this isn\u2019t what you signed up for.\u201d<\/p>\n
He smiled, reached across the couch and took my hand.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cI signed up for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
I cried harder after that.<\/p>\n
Eventually, life became manageable again.<\/p>\n
Then, Luke proposed.<\/p>\n
At the same bakery where we met.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nI thought we were only stopping for coffee, but he led me to the table near the window, took my hand, and got down on one knee.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nFor once, I didn\u2019t wonder why he had chosen me.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
I just said yes.<\/p>\n
His parents hated that, too.<\/p>\n
Diane tried to disguise her reaction as concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarriage is a very big commitment,\u201d she told Luke.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no reason to rush.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not rushing.\u201d<\/p>\n
She glanced at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have your whole life ahead of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luke\u2019s expression hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo does Mia.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nThat ended the conversation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
He married me anyway.<\/p>\n
I remember standing at the altar, looking at him and thinking, \u201cHow did I get this lucky?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nAnd yet, some tiny part of me still wondered whether one day I would finally discover the catch.<\/p>\n
Maybe that was what years of insecurity did to a person.<\/p>\n
Luke never gave me a reason to doubt him.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nI supplied the doubt myself.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
Years passed.<\/p>\n
Eventually, I stopped looking for the catch.<\/p>\n
Our marriage wasn\u2019t perfect, but it was real.<\/p>\n
We argued about dishes, bills, and whose turn it was to buy groceries.<\/p>\n
Luke snored when he slept on his back.<\/p>\n
I left coffee cups in places no coffee cup logically belonged.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nDiane and I never became close.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
After several uncomfortable comments from her, Luke made it clear that disrespecting me meant seeing less of both of us.<\/p>\n
Things improved.<\/p>\n
Not because Diane suddenly adored me, but because she understood Luke would not let her treat me as though I were temporary.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nOur life settled into something wonderfully ordinary.<\/p>\n
Until today.<\/p>\n
I was cleaning out an old box of wedding things when I found an envelope buried beneath our cards and photographs.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nMy name was written across the front in Luke\u2019s handwriting.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
Then, I saw the date.<\/p>\n
The night before our wedding.<\/p>\n
I smiled.<\/p>\n
For a moment, I thought I had discovered some forgotten love letter.<\/p>\n
I sat on the floor beside the box and opened it.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nThe first line made my smile disappear.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re reading this, then I didn\u2019t have the courage to tell you before we got married.\u201d<\/p>\n
My heart began pounding.<\/p>\n
I read the next sentence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s something about the day we met that I\u2019ve kept from you, and you deserved to know before you became my wife.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nI stared at the words.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nThe day we met?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
What could he possibly have kept from me?<\/p>\n
I kept reading.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t an accident that I spoke to you in that bakery.\u201d<\/p>\n
My hands went cold.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nEvery insecurity I thought I had outgrown came rushing back.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
I remembered looking around for his friends that first day.<\/p>\n
I remembered wondering whether someone was laughing.<\/p>\n
I remembered thinking that a man who looked like Luke would never randomly approach a woman like me.<\/p>\n
What if I had been right?<\/p>\n
I forced myself to continue.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cI had seen you there before.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
There were more pages underneath.<\/p>\n
Before I could turn to the next one, I heard the front door open.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n\u201cMia?\u201d<\/p>\n
Luke was home.<\/p>\n
His footsteps came closer.<\/p>\n
Then, he appeared in the doorway and smiled when he saw me sitting among our wedding photographs.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
I didn\u2019t move.<\/p>\n
His eyes dropped to the paper in my hand.<\/p>\n
The smile vanished from his face.<\/p>\n
He recognized it immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did you find that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nMy stomach dropped.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
All those years wondering whether there had been a catch.<\/p>\n
Judging by the look on my husband\u2019s face, I was finally about to find out.<\/p>\n
Luke stood in the doorway staring at the letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cMia, baby.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is this?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nHe exhaled slowly.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cI can explain.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
Those were not the words I wanted to hear.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wrote that meeting me wasn\u2019t an accident.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
My chest tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas it a bet?\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes widened.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cDid someone dare you to ask for my number?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWas somebody watching?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMia, no.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why did you pretend you\u2019d never seen me before?\u201d<\/p>\n
He stepped closer, but I raised my hand.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cJust tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
Luke looked at the letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cRead the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n\u201cI want to hear it from you.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was silent for a moment.<\/p>\n
Then, he sat down.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cI saw you in that bakery a few days before I spoke to you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was there with my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of all the answers I had imagined, that was not one of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiane?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded toward the letter.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s all in there.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
I unfolded the next page.<\/p>\n
Luke had described a busy Saturday morning at the bakery.<\/p>\n
He and Diane were waiting for their order when an elderly woman ahead of me discovered she did not have enough money.<\/p>\n
I remembered her.<\/p>\n
She had searched through her purse while people behind her became impatient.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\nI had stepped forward and paid the difference.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
It had only been a few dollars.<\/p>\n
I barely remembered doing it.<\/p>\n
Luke did.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou saw that?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a few dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s not what I noticed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
He told me the woman had been embarrassed and kept trying to repay me.<\/p>\n
I had told her not to worry, then moved away before she could make a fuss.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou weren\u2019t performing for anybody,\u201d Luke said. \u201cYou didn\u2019t even look around afterward.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you asked me out because you felt sorry for me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nHis answer came instantly.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cAbsolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n\u201cThen why?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I noticed you. Not just the dimples when you smile, your beautiful brown eyes, or your long, natural eyelashes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He paused.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, Mia, I thought you were beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cBut I\u2019d also seen what you did when you thought nobody important was watching.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
My eyes filled.<\/p>\n
He gave me a small smile.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I went back a few days later, saw you again, and thought I\u2019d regret it if I didn\u2019t talk to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo when you said, \u2018Well\u2026 you\u2019re beautiful\u2019\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cI meant it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd when you asked for my number?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted your number.\u201d<\/p>\n
There had been no bet.<\/p>\n
No joke.<\/p>\n
No hidden camera.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\nNo catch.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
But one question remained.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Luke looked down.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first, I didn\u2019t think it mattered. Then, I realized how insecure you were about us.\u201d<\/p>\n
I winced.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou kept asking why I wanted you. By then, I was afraid that if I told you I\u2019d noticed what happened with that woman first, you\u2019d decide I was dating you out of pity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nI almost laughed because that was exactly what I had assumed minutes earlier.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThen my mother made everything worse,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
I looked back at the letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs that why you wrote this the night before our wedding?\u201d<\/p>\n
Luke nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe came to see me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cWhat did she say?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cShe asked one last time whether I was sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nMy jaw tightened.<\/p>\n
Luke continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen she said I\u2019d spent our whole relationship convincing you that you were good enough for me and asked whether I wanted to spend my marriage doing the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cWhat did you say?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThat she\u2019d gotten it backward.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked directly at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told her that being with you had made me wonder whether I was good enough for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
My eyes burned.<\/p>\n
\u201cLuke.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s true.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
He pointed toward the letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why I wrote it. I realized there was still something about us you didn\u2019t know, and I didn\u2019t want to marry you with a secret between us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why didn\u2019t you give it to me?\u201d<\/p>\n
His shoulders dropped.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n\u201cI planned to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nOn the morning of our wedding, he had apparently seen me briefly before the ceremony.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
I had been overwhelmed, nervous, and still grieving the fact that my sister was not there.<\/p>\n
Luke had the letter with him, but he imagined handing me several pages beginning with a confession that our first meeting had not been accidental.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lost my nerve,\u201d he admitted. \u201cI told myself I\u2019d explain after the wedding.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we got married. We traveled. We came home. Life happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nHe looked embarrassed.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cAt some point, the letter got packed away with everything else.\u201d<\/p>\n
I shook my head.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou idiot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother knew?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cShe knew I\u2019d seen you before.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n\u201cAnd all those times she acted like she couldn\u2019t understand why you were with me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Luke\u2019s jaw tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s one of the things I regret.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot stopping her sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n
He explained that after the dinner when Diane asked whether he was \u201csure\u201d about our relationship, he confronted her.<\/p>\n
\n\n<\/div>\n\nAfter we became engaged and her comments continued, he drew a harder line.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cIf she couldn\u2019t respect you, she wasn\u2019t going to have much access to our life.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered how suddenly Diane\u2019s comments had become less frequent.<\/p>\n
Now I understood why.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should have told me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should have told me about the bakery too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re right about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\nI stared at him.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re making this argument very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n
He smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been married long enough to know when I\u2019m wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
I laughed despite myself.<\/p>\n
Then, I noticed a paragraph near the end of the letter.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nLuke had written about my sister.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
He wrote about watching me rearrange my life whenever she needed me and how fiercely I loved her.<\/p>\n
My throat tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wrote about her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luke\u2019s expression softened.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou loved her.\u201d<\/p>\n
After she died, he had cooked for me, answered phone calls, driven me places, and sat beside me while I cried through the night.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cWhy did you stay through all of that?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
His eyebrows pulled together.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t myself for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were grieving.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a mess.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re the love of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
He said it as though there were nothing else to explain.<\/p>\n
Maybe there wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
I looked down at the pages.<\/p>\n
For most of my life, I had measured beauty by the wrong things.<\/p>\n
I had looked at Luke and seen someone who could have anyone.<\/p>\n
I had looked at myself and wondered why he had settled.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nHis mother had apparently wondered the same thing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
Luke never had.<\/p>\n
He had thought I was beautiful from the beginning.<\/p>\n
But that was not the only reason he crossed the bakery to meet me.<\/p>\n
He had seen what I did when I thought nobody important was watching.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nThere was no catch after all.<\/p>\n
He had not married me despite who I was.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nHe had married me because of who I was, inside and out.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
Luke watched me carefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you angry?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA little.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMostly at the person who hid this letter for years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cFair.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
I folded it again.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019m angry at myself too.\u201d<\/p>\n
His smile faded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I\u2019ve spent half our marriage waiting for you to prove you didn\u2019t mean what you said in that bakery.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nHe reached for my hand.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
I let him take it without hesitation.<\/p>\n
I looked at the old letter between us.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n\u201cAnd apparently, you\u2019ve spent all of it proving you did.\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes filled.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\nI leaned against him.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
For years, I had wondered how I got so lucky.<\/p>\n
That afternoon, for the first time, I stopped asking.<\/p>\n
There had never been some hidden joke waiting to be revealed.<\/p>\n
There was simply a man who had noticed my face, noticed my heart, and decided he wanted to know both.<\/p>\n
And a woman who had taken far too long to believe him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For years, I thought my husband choosing me was the luckiest accident of my life. Then I found a letter he had written the night before our wedding, and one … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17416,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","category-inspiration","category-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17822"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17823,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17822\/revisions\/17823"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}