Seven Years

Seven years ago yesterday Joel and I started dating. And somehow in my half-awake sleep that morning I remembered to tell him happy anniversary. Usually he wins, but yesterday morning a miracle happened. Until I was shown up when he brought me roses during lunch. Unfortunately, I had meeting tonight and didn’t get home until late, but when I walked in the garage I could smell something delicious. He was pouring red wine and had cooked shrimp & grits and roasted brussel sprouts. This is especially amazing since I can’t ever eat shrimp & grits because of the heavy dairy…but because my husband must love me a lot he made it from scratch without. I’m the luckiest woman on the face of this earth, and I know it. It’s just a good thing that seven years ago I told him I liked him, or he may have never worked up the nerve to ask me out! Though we “dated” each other’s friends in middle school, neither of us dated during high school.I had a rough time being a girl who no one ever like or ever got asked our or told she was pretty. After a year of anger and resentment somehow I found the strength to pray for patience to wait for the right guy. And after a few years (God’s timing is SO different from ours) Joel and I finally realized that our blessed friendship was meant to be a blessed relationship. We count ourselves truly lucky to have known since junior year who we would marry, to be with only that person, to know we married our best friend. And we know we’ll make it in the long haul, because this week we put lights on the Christmas tree together and neither one of us was found dead the next morning by the cops.