14 Years Ago...

Well, I guess if I was starting from the beginning, I would start a lot farther back than 14 years ago. David and I met through our parents, while we were still in high school. My parents pastored a church, his parents ran the sound room. He told me once that he saw me walk up to the front row and sit with my mom and said to himself, "That's the girl I'm gonna marry!" (Isn't that SWEET!)

Anyway, we were friends then, he took me out on a real "date" and it was a very interesting evening. We lived WAY out in Hutto and since he knew I didn't like the car he drove at the time, he borrowed his parents Mercedes, which was diesel. But he didn't realize just how far out we lived, so we ended up running out of diesel shortly after he picked me up, just as we were coasting into a gas station. But, for the rest of the night, air would get into the line (I don't know enough about cars to even pretend to know what I'm talking about) all I know is that the car would just die. In the middle of nowhere. And I thought it was just David trying to get me alone in the country so he could put his moves on me...

We went to the Hyatt downtown for fajitas, drove go-carts at Malibu, played putt-putt, and he gave me a red rose. He was very thoughtful and a perfect gentleman. We stayed friends while I finished high school, he went off to Marine boot camp, I graduated and moved to Hong Kong, he got injured at boot camp and moved back home, I came home from Hong Kong and moved to Tampa, etc.

One weekend, when I was visiting from Tampa, we went out again as friends, and when I went back to Tampa, something was different. This time, it just seemed more than buddies hanging out watching movies. I didn't know what to think, and tried not to think about it too much until I moved back from Tampa. The weekend I moved back, we went out again, to the Arboretum to see Fire in the Sky a movie about alien abductions (how romantic!) and we walked around the Arboretum, by the cows, over the bridge, we sat and looked over the fountain and we talked about the movie. I should say, David talked, I sat there wondering if I should make my move...you know how scary it can be to cross that "friend" line. Well, I worked up my courage and just about shocked his socks off when I leaned over and kissed him.

That was the beginning of March, we were pretty inseparable for a while there, and on Mother's Day weekend, May 9th, as we sat overlooking the city lights of Austin, he proposed. It seemed like a whirlwind then, we set the date for September 18, 1993. I compare it to the movie When Harry Met Sally when they ask how long they dated and they said, "Only 6 months! Well, 6 years and 6 months."

I wanted a fun wedding, not anything stuffy. So our colors were black and white polka dots. The guys had polka dot vests and the girls had awesome black velvet and white satin dresses (it was early 90's cut me a break). The cake looked like wrapped presents stacked on top of each other, it was a mid-afternoon wedding and it was FUN! We went to the Driskell Hotel and then headed off to Galveston and Houston for our honeymoon (and the Space Center, again, how romantic!)

So here we are 14 years later. I can hardly believe it. Time flies. I can't believe how young we both were, and I feel blessed that we did find each other at such an early age and are able to spend the best years of our lives together. We had 5 years together before kids came along and we were able to travel together and get to know each other more. We now have two beautiful kids that round out our family and I could not have asked for a more perfect life!