6.4.04

Monday marked Matt's and my 8th anniversary.

Eight years.

Eight years of wonderful. Eight years of joy, happiness, and even sorrow and pain. Eight years as man and wife.

It got me thinking about how we started out.

 Eleven and a half years ago, my freshman year of college - and Matt's "first" senior year - I went with my good friend Robin to hear our favorite band, The Cover Girls, at the Blue Room. When we got there, she wanted to stop by and say hi to a group of guys that she knew from high school (she had dated one of Matt's little brother's friends years ago). Matt and his friend Jerry were hanging out with the group and we were introduced.

It was "dollar pitcher" night.

So, we met at the Blue Room in Auburn on dollar pitcher night. (Such a great story to share with all of my friends and family, huh?...)

What followed was a semester of feeling each other out, my standing him up for our first date, and then he and I eventually deciding to date exclusively about 30 minutes before I drove home for the summer.

Matt was mowing lawns in Auburn and I was life guarding back home.  It was before the days of free nights and weekends and unlimited cell phone minutes, so we spoke on the phone in limited increments and tried to keep up contact via email between visits.  He would drive home on the weekends and come to see me at the pool where I worked.  He and Amanda hung out together while I would have to put in my shift on the stand.

I fell in love with him that summer.

My dad warned me about dating Matt. Matt was not a Christian and my father knew the dangers of dating someone who did not share the same beliefs as you. I didn't listen to him.

A year later, after things had gotten more serious, I eventually called it off.  We'd been going to church together and he had been meeting with the pastor on his own, but we still didn't share the same faith.  I knew I wasn't supposed to be seeing someone that wasn't a believer, and by that time it was really hard to end it.

Obviously Matt made a life commitment to serve Christ and we got back together. We dated two more years, and following another short breakup after his move to Dallas my junior year, we got engaged and married a month after I graduated from college.

 We got married on a Friday and by the following weekend, we were driving all of my belongings across  several states.  I moved to Dallas to join him and start a life together.  No job, no friends, only a lifetime ahead of me with the love of my life.  By the time I got a job offer in Dallas, Matt had decided to go back to school to get a second bachelor's by finishing the mechanical engineering degree he started at Auburn (which he had changed to business administration/aviation management after a semester or two of pre-engineering courses).

It made more sense for us to move back to Alabama where I could easily find an engineering job and he could go back to school while we lived off of a single income.  So, we packed up our things and headed back across the Mississippi. 

I remember feeling a little numb when we got married - almost like it just happened to me and I was on auto pilot.  I wondered if this was a mistake, had I simply just gone through the motions?  The few months we spent in Dallas together were wonderful for us, after having been long-distance for over two years of the three and a half of our entire courtship, we were finally together.  Just the two of us.  Slowly the semi-shock of getting married wore off and we settled into being together.

It was wonderful.

The past eight years have been so much fun.  We've taken trips, bought a house, been apart, moved again, and become parents.  I always thought it was sappy when married couples said things like, "I love him/her more now than I thought possible when we got married."

But it's true.

I do.

He's been my steadfast support and ultimate confidante.  He's been my cheerleader and my cheererupper.  I've watched his faith grow unwavering and deep, sometimes exposing my own weak faith in comparison.  He's grown into a committed husband, provider, leader and now father. 

He's even pretty good about putting the toilet seat back down.

But it hasn't been all easy sailing.  We've gone through rough patches, and I'm not talking about our eternal war on how the toothpaste tube should be squeezed/capped. (The adjustment after I returned from my short stint in Virginia was especially hard) We've wept together and fought with one another.  But the laughter has far outweighed the tears.  

I'd do it all again, and can only hope to have 80 more years of life with this man.