Ten Years Ago (yesterday)

Disclaimer: In case anyone wonders why this may be slightly disjointed, I’m sitting in the waiting room of the lab at 6:40 am, hoping to soon be able to drink a delicious bottle of Glucose solution, and ruing the fact that the lab does not have wi-fi.

And looking forward to the iced coffee I’m picking myself up on the way home.

Yesterday, Hubby & I celebrated ten years since our first date. Which was quite the experience. And, in thinking about it, I realized that I’ve never shared this hilarious story with you! So sit back and enjoy this little gem.

First of all, how Hubby & I met: As college freshmen, we were in classes together, one of which was called Family class. The teacher organized the seating chart by alphabetical order, boy/girl, boy/girl, and Hubby & I ended up seated next to each other. Looking back, the class was at 7 am, and Hubby usually isn’t overly charming before 8:30 or 9, so I’m not entirely sure how we ever got together… Our earliest memory of each other, besides the Family class, is that one evening, Joel was sitting with some friends in the campus dining hall, and I was playing a game with some friends, sitting on the other end of his table, laughing really loud. (Back then, I had this REALLY loud, ear-piercing laugh that Hubby later told me drove him NUTS. Pretty sure it drove most everyone nuts.) When I asked Hubby the other day if he remembered that, he responded dryly, "Yes."

One afternoon during the third week of school, I found a message on my machine from Hubby, asking me to go on a date with him. It was a double date, with a friend of his who Hubby had dared to ask a girl out, so when his friend did, he came back with a dare of his own - now Hubby had to ask someone. He later told me it was between me and a friend of mine, but I was the lucky girl. :) And that friend is also happily married to the guy SHE started dating just a week or so later, and pregnant with her third child. But I digress.

~~As an aside, my stomach is now FULL of delicious orange-flavored ‘glucola’ drink - Yummy! And back to the date!~~

Because the other female portion of our double date had to work until early evening on the night of our date, we began informally with a burger run and some off-road mudding (not exactly sure that was legal…) with a few guys. We were tooling around in a road construction zone, enjoying the mud wildly splashing the Bronco, when we hit an exposed manhole - there were hamburgers flying around the vehicle, and one passenger (a guy, NOT me and NOT anyone I’m married to) was so shook up (literally), he decided not to accompany us for the rest of the evening. What a great start to a relationship, am I right?

The rest of the evening was also a comedy of errors - we two couples were planning on going miniature golfing at this little place that the guys SUPPOSEDLY knew of. Instead, we drove around for a while, girls chatting in the backseat, guys solemnly discussing their driving situation, until finally one of them turned around and informed us that they could not find the mini-golf course. Instead, we visited Dairy Queen (always a favorite), and spent the rest of the evening in a park near the campus. So it was a salvageable date…and it gave the guys an excuse to ask us out again.

Our second date was the next night, and the guys brought a knowledgeable fifth wheel to direct us to the mini-golf course. This second date happened on a Saturday night, and then we went to church together on Sunday (twice), and the rest is history. Ten YEARS of history - it hardly seems possible! Time flies when you’re having fun - and for those of my readers who don’t yet have children, let me just tell you, once you have that first baby, your life will immediately fly by even ten times faster than before!

So, happy ten years (and one day) together, Hubby! It is amazing to look back and see how much each of us has grown personally, and in our relationship - how we have matured together. I can’t wait to see what the next ten years will bring!!! (and thank you for the gorgeous roses!)

Updated to Add: Just found out I failed my one-hour glucose test. Last pregnancy, I failed the one-hour, passed the three-hour, but my dr. made me go to diabetic counseling & take my blood sugar 5x a day & eat like a diabetic for 14 wks. anyway. So this time I am hoping to refuse the 3-hr. test (which is a HORRIBLE experience for someone who hates needles as much as I do), and just go ahead with the diabetic eating plan & monitoring instead. The dr. should be calling soon to discuss this plan of mine, so please pray that something will work out!