9 years

On September 16, 2000 at approximately 11:45pm, my now husband asked me to be his girlfriend. We had met the year before in Biology class. I was the new kid. No one and I mean no one wanted anything to do with me. The girls at our high school were pretty horrible. He asked me to come be his science partner and told me to come sit at his table. From then on we were great friends. He asked me if I wanted to take drivers ed with him that Summer and of course I said yes. I loved hanging out with him. We were pretty much inseparable that entire Summer. He came to me one night and asked if we could talk. He told me that he liked me and had for a while. I was so nervous and excited at the same time. A couple weeks later we had some friends over and were watching movies. He had to leave by 11:50 in order to make his curfew of midnight. We were the last 2 left in my parents game room. I could tell he was nervous. He sat me down and asked me if I would be his girlfriend. Seriously one of my most memorable days. He gave me a kiss, a real kiss, my first real kiss to be honest :) and I walked him out. I could not stop smiling. I remember running into my sister's room and telling her all about it. It all seemed like a dream, as corny as that sounds. He called me as soon as he got home and we talked until the wee hours in the morning, because that's what you did when you were young. From then on we have been a team. We got caught trying to skip school together. He walked me to all of my classes daily and said goodbye with a kiss. I remember getting so excited when he would hand me a letter that he had written in one of his classes. I actually have 2 Dr. Marten's boxes full of all the letters he wrote me. He would always include some illustration with it too. I called him Aar-Bear so he would draw a bear wearing the same clothes that he was wearing on that day. Cutest thing ever! He came over to my house and hung out every night and weekend. I went to his football games and cheered him on as loud as I could. I was such a proud girlfriend! I still get butterflies thinking back on all of this. Such fun times! We've been going strong ever since. Even with going to different universities. No breakups. I'd be lying if I told you it was easy during college. There were times I'm sure we both wondered if we could make it. Luckily we were close enough so that we could see each other on most weekends. Even though we are married now and have our wedding anniversary, we will always celebrate September 16. It's a very special day to both of us. I received an email from my amazing husband that he has made us dinner reservations tonight at one of our favorite Italian restaurants in our area. I could not be happier! I feel so lucky to have literally married my best friend and to have such fond memories to look back on. I love you so much A! Happy 9th Anniversary!!