October 9th has always been a special day to us. Seven years ago today, Wyatt asked me to be his girlfriend on a school bus on the way home from a Worlds of Fun trip. I was fifteen.

It seems crazy that I’m now twenty-two and I woke up next to him this morning. (Actually, I woke up, got up, made breakfast, and then went to wake him up. And he said, ” I’m just finishing.” “Finishing what, honey?, I asked” “Making stuff.” “What?” *pause* *sigh* “Nothing.” He’s so funny when he’s sleep talking.)

Wow, isn’t it amazing how life works out?

The story of that day is actually sort of interesting. Because we had a pretty big fight that day that almost ruined the whole trip. And ruined us before we started.

It all happened when we were getting on the Detonator. It was Wyatt, me, and two of our friends. The guy working the ride sat the two girls together and the two guys together. Then he must have realized his mistake and asked me, “Do you want to sit with your boyfriend?”

(Now, at this point, I should say that he was a young guy, probably a few years older than us. And that it was windy, and that Wyatt wasn’t sitting right by me.)

But my response, and I will always stand by this, is that I said, a little forcefully, and annoyed, hoping Wyatt might hear me, but also just venting my frustration that nothing had happened between us yet, “He’s not my boyfriend…Yet!”

But, as if we were in a movie, Wyatt heard, “He’s not my boyfriend,” and completely shut off his ears in anger.

Needless to say, he was pretty cold for the next few hours. No hand holding, no smiling, no walking by me. Nothing. Ouch.

I, of course, had no idea what was wrong. And being a fifteen-year-old girl with a relationship at stake, I was freaking out a little bit. Until I couldn’t stand it any longer and started begging him to tell me what was wrong.

And after asking him several (ok, a lot more than several) times, we snuck off by ourselves to ride the Ferris Wheel and we finally talked.

He told me his side of the story. I told him mine. And I insisted and insisted.

But he STILL (to this day!) doesn’t believe I said the word “yet.”

Good grief.

Anyway, we managed to make up, and the rest of the day went better. And the rest of our lives.

I still can’t believe we made it through all that high school stuff. Then college stuff, the break up, getting back together…

It’s crazy to me that I found the person I was going to marry before I was even old enough to drive. I mean, who does that? Not very many people. Trust me, I know. People told me that all the time. They still look at me in surprise, (or concern?) when I tell them we were high school sweethearts. I know it doesn’t happen for most people.

It’s certainly going to make it hard if we have a daughter who thinks she’s fallen head over heels in love with a boy when she’s just a young teenager. What am I going to tell her? “Honey, just be careful. It isn’t likely you’re going to stay with him forever.”

Cause then she’ll wine and say, “Mooooom, but you did!”

I can feel the headache and forehead wrinkles coming on now.

(Of course, none of that will matter because Wyatt says we’re having all boys.)

Anyway, I don’t care if we’re not “supposed” to care about this day anymore now that we have a “real” anniversary to celebrate in July.

It’s always been special to us, and I think it always will be. Actually, October in general is special, (more on that around the 29th!) so we’re going to celebrate.

So, here’s to looking back and counting our blessings. And here’s to looking forward and dreaming about the future together.