Today is my 8th wedding anniversary.
It kind of got me thinking about what I could possibly do for a post today, and I was stumped. Then as I was checking my usual blogs, one got me thinking.
Heather @ Adventures of Aidanpod asked a simple question. "How did you and your man meet and fall in love?" And I thought, perfect! I have never actually written this story down before and what a perfect day to do it. So here it is, our love story. An unlikely one at that!
A little over ten years ago I was nearing the end of my high school experience, preparing to graduate and go off to Hanover College in the fall with my best friend Shannon. My parents had
adopted J.C. that Christmas and his birthday was fast approaching. I had just gone through a really horrible break-up with my high school boyfriend. I was not looking for a relationship. But, sure enough, it found me and swept me of my feet, changing the course of the life I had planned for myself.
That year on May, 14 1999 (J.C.'s birthday) my parents had a party. They invited family and some close friends. Among those friends were the Polk's who had lived down the road since we moved into the neighborhood when I was in the third grade. They had two sons. One, who I knew very well Jeremiah (Miah) and I had grown up together. He was only a year older than I was. I can still remember sitting with my friend Kathryn on the edge of the basketball court watching him play. I was there of course for the moral support she needed to sustain her fleeting crush on him.
Back to my point...
Their other son's name was Chris and he was five years older than me. He was just home from college and living @ home. My parents had just weeks earlier made him J.C.'s godfather. They wanted him to have a younger, Spanish speaking role model to look up to. He was older and more mature. He had facial hair for God's sake! He could pound back the beers with my dad and he chewed tobacco. I never thought he'd notice me, and I probably didn't want him to. But, fate has a way of bringing people together, and that night at a six year old's birthday party we started talking.
I had never felt so grown up in my life...
After the party I went downstairs to brag to my older brother Shawn.
"Chris Polk was flirting with me tonight."
Of course he said I was a stupid kid and that I must have been hallucinating!
Then next day I went to my Senior Prom and had what up until then, was the worst night of my life. My ex for a date, a new crush who didn't know I existed, and I threw up in the bathroom. I went home and cried myself to sleep and didn't get out of bed the next day.
Then on Sunday night, Chris called. My mom brought me the phone and I couldn't believe my ears. He wanted to know if I felt like going to a movie with him and then getting something to eat. I of course jumped at the chance and said yes.
Little did I know that there was a story behind this phone call. You see Chris had gone home from the party talking about me too. And when his cousin called him on it, she bet him that he couldn't call and get me to go out with him. She obviously lost.
We spent the next few weeks completely inseparable, which is easy to do when you can walk through someone else's backyard to get to each other. Our parents were worried, about our age difference, about my going off to school in the fall, and about the potential catastrophic damage to their friendship. But, we were having fun.. there weren't any expectations and we were just getting to know each other. Preppy popular boy meets drama geek, no one would have put us together in a million years! But, it worked. He encouraged me to reconnect with my friends who I had so foolishly avoided for the last two and a half years. With graduation approaching, we all spent the day on the lake and the conversation turned to the after graduation party. Being in high school we were looking for a way to make it a little more "fun". I sort of raised my hand and volunteered the information that my "new boyfriend" just happened to be 22. Problem solved.
Chris and I am my graduation open house
But, in all seriousness I still wasn't ready to deem this a "relationship" or make any sort of commitment to it. Until I went to New York. At the end of June, I took a theater trip to the Big Apple for a week and had the time of my life. Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, RENT, Beauty and the Beast, and so much more! When I got home there was a huge bouquet of roses waiting for me... one for every day since May 16 (our first date). I was so happy to see Chris, and I knew that that week away had changed everything.
Standing outside the car before I left for New York
To make what is already a long story short, I rearranged everything. I didn't go to Hanover like I had planned, I stayed closer to home at Manchester College. I came home every weekend and usually one night a week. The "boy next door" had stolen my heart when I least expected it. That Thanksgiving when he proposed, I accepted.
Everyone thought we were crazy! The only answer I could give them was, "when you know, you just know."
We waited a year and a half and were married on June 23, 2001.
Eight years and three babies later, I wouldn't change it for the world. Yes, there have been ups and downs. But, we have gotten through the best and the worst of it together. There is no one else I'd rather kiss goodnight, and no one else I'd rather wake up too each morning! I love you honey, and if you are reading this... Happy Anniversary!
Just for fun, a pic of my bridesmaids... we all had a blast that day!
Sorry for the horrible quality of the photos my scanner isn't working and I had to take pictures of the pictures with my BlackBerry.
