Once upon a time...

One of my new readers (yay for new readers!) sent me an email asking me to write about how my hubby and I met. She read back through some of my posts and seemed a little surprised at how long we've been together and how young we are. I love my hubby, so I'm happy to oblige!

My hubby and I met our freshman year in high school. He grew up in a very small town next to the one I grew up in. It is so small that they have one school for kindergarten through eighth grade, and his eighth grade graduating class was 12 people! So they went to our high school.

We had science class together that first year. The very first day of class, our science teacher asked if anyone had a dictionary, and he pulled one out. My girlfriends and I called him dictionary boy (to ourselves, not to him) for awhile because of it. But he was an athlete and hung out with a lot of upperclassmen, and I was a big time nerd and band geek! So I would say we were casual acquaintances, but there was nothing romantic.

We went to a pretty small high school, so even though I wouldn't say we were good friends, we definitely got to know each other. Sophomore year he was much more flirtatious! He sat behind me in history and health class. That year, I often wore my hair in 2 french braids and he'd run his finger down the part in my braids and play with them, while singing to me. (Reading back what I just wrote that sounds so dirty, but I promise it wasn't!) But he had a crazy girlfriend and I had a boyfriend, so it was all pretty innocent.

This is us at Prom our sophomore year.
(We both went with upperclassmen.)

The summer after our sophomore year, he moved away. We kept in touch over the internet and he moved back in December of our senior year. By then, we had the same group of friends. I was definitely still a nerd and bank geek (and proud of it!) but I'd say I was a cooler version of my freshman self. *hahaha* Anyway, I was really excited that he moved back, but not for romantic reasons.

I remember the first time I saw him after he moved back. There was a basketball game at our high school and I begged, ummm, I mean tried to convince him and some of the guys to come. When he agreed, all my friends were busy so I convinced my sister's best friend to go with me. We had been there awhile and I didn't think they were coming, but then they finally walked in. I remember exactly what he was wearing - corduroys, an ugly tan sweater (that mysteriously disappeared a year or so after we started dating) and a green puffy vest.

We started talking again at school and then, on New Year's Eve, we went to the same party. There weren't many couples there, if I remember correctly, and we joked with each other that we would be each other's midnight kiss. About 11:30pm, the guy whose house we were at kicked us all out. The girls and I went to one party and he and the guys went to another. So, I didn't get my midnight kiss. In my mind, it was just a joke, but at the same time I was a little disappointed.

Around 1:30am, the guys showed up at the party we were at. He tried to get a kiss, and I joked around playing hard to get, telling him that he was too late. Around 3am, the girls and I were leaving and I went to say goodbye to him. Right there in that random person's kitchen, we had our first kiss. I got in the car to drive the girls home and one of them said to me, "Sara? Did you just kiss _____?!?" The rest is history.

We managed a long distance relationship and made it through college together. Now, we are both 26, have been together just over 8 years, and our 2nd wedding anniversary is coming up in June! A lot of people seem to think that we have this fairy tale relationship and marriage. While it may seem that way, and while we love each other more than anything in this world, we are far from perfect! I can't stress enough that no marriage is easy!! But with the right frame of mind, lots of love, and a little effort, it is always worth it with the right person beside you!