Young Love

Kyle and I have officially been together for 8 years today (married for one and a half), which means we've pretty much been the most important people in each other's lives for about 1/3 of our lives. Pretty crazy stuff, huh? It's so weird to think back to when we were juniors in high school and first started dating. We have such a different story than many of the couples I know, who met in college or after. We didn't start out going on "dates," and if we did, I'm pretty sure our parents had to pay for it because we didn't have jobs! And, when we first became a couple, it was about as far from romantic as possible. Let me set up the scene for you...

Friday night after Kyle's high school basketball game, sitting on the couch up in Kyle's f.r.o.g., watching, of all movies, Red Dragon (I totally don't watch scary movies anymore, but they were always fun to watch with boys back in the day!).

Here's how the convo went...

Kyle: "So, I, uhhh, heard from Liz that you liked me
Me:  "Well, I, heard from Liz that you liked me. So, uh, what should we do about that?
Kyle: "I, uh,  guess we should start going out."
Me: "I guess that sounds like a plan."

Listen to us trying to play it so cool! Wow, how Saved By the Bell could we get! But, no matter how "high school" our relationship started out, we built an extremely solid foundation and never once looked back. We went to different colleges that were only about 30 miles apart, which gave us the perfect amount of distance. We were able to grow into our own in college together and apart. We had separate lives that were somehow interwoven nicely. We grew up together, became adults together, and learned some pretty tough lessons together. We took our relationship for granted at times, fought with the best of them (and still do!), but could never get past the fact that at the end of the day, we knew our love was special and that we were better together than we could ever be apart.

Junior Prom-- Y'all don't make fun of my dress or hair...or my smile!

So, here's to my high school sweetheart, who wasn't the first boy I kissed, but was certainly the first and only boy that has ever had my heart!