10 years
Happy Anniversary to us! Today is our 10 year anniversary. I asked Josh last night if these past 10 years have gone by fast and he said, “Not really.” I won’t read into that any more than I should. J
A 10 year mark of anything is a good time to reflect, so here’s a brief timeline of our romance:
September 1994—Josh and I meet for the first time. We were at Bible College . I was just beginning my sophomore year and he just arrived, fresh from the Marine Corps. I was intrigued by him from the beginning. I was actually dating high-school-not-so-sweetheart at the time we met, but for some reason Josh caught my eye.
November 1994—I watch Josh leave campus on a date with Blondie. They were headed to the Marine Corps Ball and he was dressed in his dress blues and he looked hot! I had an epiphany that night. Why in the world was I dating high-school-not-so-sweetheart and hoping and praying and thinking he would change and mature some day when there was already a man out there with all of the characteristics I desired in a life mate that doesn’t need changing? I knew that Josh was interested in Blondie, but I also knew that if I didn’t break up with high-school-not-so-sweetheart that I would never know if I had a chance. I made a decision. I called high-school-not-so-sweetheart (long distance) and broke up with him and never looked back.
December 1994—Josh and I started to spend more time together over the Christmas break. I think I caught his eye when I gave him a plate of Christmas cookies. J Everybody knows that’s the key to a man’s heart, right? J He invited me to a get-together he was having for New Year’s Eve, but I picked up that Blondie was going to be there and I refused the invitation because I didn’t feel like competing. Besides, there’s nothing wrong in playing heard to get.
January 1995—Josh asked me out on our first date. That was the first of the last. Neither one of us has dated another since.
April 1995—I got sick…scary sick. Josh took really good care of me. He took me to the hospital. He picked up items I needed at the store. I knew from his actions that he would make an excellent husband. Later that month I had a dream about a little toddler boy running around. When I woke up I knew it was Josh’s and my son. I still remember that dream so vividly.
June 1995—School is out and Josh leaves on a singing, promotional tour for the college. (Did I mention that he can sing?) We’re separated for 2 months and spend a lot of time on the phone and writing letters.
August 1995—Josh gets back from his tour. Apparently the time away showed him that he didn’t want to spend another moment away from me because he wasted no time in picking out a ring and planning his proposal. I said, “yes!”
December 1995—We didn’t was to waste time so we got married in December right before the Christmas break so that we would have a few weeks off together before starting school again. We got married in a cute little church in the hills with stained glass windows and a huge Christmas tree and lots of candles. It was a lot of fun to see so many friends and family all together.
Josh continued college and I started working full time. We couldn’t afford for both of us to finish school at the time. He also worked “full time” as a youth pastor/custodian at a small church and part-time at Pizza Hut on top of school and drills (he was in the Marine Corps reserves at that time.)
June 1998—Josh graduates from college and resigns from his youth pastor job. We spend the summer looking for a full-time youth pastor position while continuing his other job at Pizza Hut.
September 1998—We move to another town where we know nobody and start our new jobs. Josh was a youth pastor and I continued working in the real estate business (title and escrow…did I mention my job earlier?)
June 1999—We bought our first house…very cute.
January 2000—We find out we are pregnant after trying for 3 years.
October 2000—Our precious daughter joins the world.
October 2002—Our precious son joins our little family.
April 2003—Josh starts his new job…same church, different position. He’s now the pastor of adult ministries and discipleship.
October 2004—We sell our cute little first house and move into a tiny little duplex while we built a new house.
April 2005—We move into our new house.
What are missing on the list are the vacations, trips and romantic dates we’ve had over the years. We’ve also had painful times in our marriage, but never pain that we have brought on the other, but pain that we’ve endured together. For example, last year when my dad found out he had cancer and that it spread too far for surgery and/or radiation, we had each other to comfort. When we tried for three years to get pregnant and didn’t know if we would ever be able to have children, we had each other to comfort. When our jobs became extremely stressful, we had each other to comfort. We’ve always made it a priority to spend time together. Josh enjoys spoiling me. He enjoys buying me gifts and taking me places. Just this past month he surprised me by planning a weekend away, even making arrangements for a friend to watch the kids.
Tonight my parents have offered to take the kids overnight. We’ll be going out to dinner at my favorite restaurant and then we’ll probably go catch a movie. I fully plan on cheating on my diet tonight. J We’ll exchange gifts. I got him the wrist GPS device for running. I think he’ll like it, especially since he’s been hinting around about it since this summer. It’ll be a fun evening.
Happy 10 years, baby! I love you! Thanks for a great decade and I look forward to the next. XOXOXO
Congratulations!