Inside Carrie Underwood and Husband Mike Fisher's Love Story: 'He Is the Person I Was Meant to Be With'

The country superstar tops PEOPLE's list of 100 Reasons to Love America—and she's more in love with husband Mike Fisher than ever

Sure she sings about heartbreak like no other — including what she’s liable to do to a cheater’s car with a Louisville slugger — but Carrie Underwood‘s real love life couldn’t be better.

The country superstar, 36, tops PEOPLE’s list of 100 Reasons to Love America this week and says falling for Mike Fisher, her Canadian, hockey star husband of seven years, was a dream come true.

“I feel like he is the person I was meant to be with,” says Underwood. The pair met after he attended one of her shows in 2008 and upon dating, she quickly knew he was different.

Kevin Mazur/Getty

“I had dated guys and kind of knew, like, ‘No.’ Nothing was ever really wrong, but nothing was really right either. With him, it was like a good partnership. It was an easy relationship to be in.”

Then came marriage. Underwood and Fisher tied the knot in 2010, on a summer evening in Georgia amid pink flowers and 5000 sparkling crystals.

Mike Fisher/Instagram

They welcomed son Isaiah, 4, in 2015 and son Jacob this past January. “I admire Carrie as a mom most,” Fisher tells PEOPLE. “She is so good with our boys and loves us all so well.”

Prior to Jacob’s arrival, Underwood was the one in need of extra love and support—and Fisher didn’t miss a beat. After recovering from a painful fall in 2017 that left Underwood with a broken wrist and a facial laceration that required 40-50 stitches, the star revealed she’d also suffered through three miscarriages in less than two years.

Carrie Underwood on the cover of PEOPLE. Randee St. Nicholas

She says there was no getting through that tough period without Fisher, 39, who retired in 2018 after 19 years on the ice.

“He is so levelheaded about everything, and when I was dealing with everything, not just emotionally but hormonally, when you’re going on that roller coaster of pregnant, not pregnant, pregnant, not pregnant, I was probably not very easy to love, to be honest,” she says. “And to have somebody so even-keeled, he was my lifeline, keeping me grounded.”

Carrie Underwood/ Instagram

Sure, they have their moments—“We’re always working on our communication, you know, that’s life,” she says — but she is grateful “to have that rock in my crazy life. It means more to me than he probably knows or than I could tell him.”

For Fisher’s part, he’s equally smitten. “Carrie’s so easy to love because she’s down to earth and genuine.” She’s also a ton of fun. “We laugh a lot,” he adds, “which I think is important.”

For more on Carrie Underwood‘s emotional journey and 99 other great reasons to love America — which span everything from the Grand Canyon to Shark Week to Michelle Obama‘s bestselling memoir — pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.