11 years ago today...

...I finally acknowledged that I reciprocated Andy's feelings towards me and allowed him to "drive" me to work from school. The thing is, it was on his snowmobile and I had to hang on tightly to him so that I didn't fall off. Oh darn.

Andy had made it quite clear for some time that he liked me, but I was apparently playing hard to get. I liked him, but I didn't want to seem too eager. You know, high school stuff. So that day when he asked if I had anything going on after school, I was truly sad to inform him that I had to work at the local grocery store at 4:00. He said he could give me a ride there on his snowmobile and what did I say? "Sure, that would work." After work, he met me at the grocery store again and we went back to the school for a basketball game. Of course, my heart was pounding and I couldn't believe that I had just agreed to ride with him, again, on his snowmobile, where I had to practically hug him to hang on. And I hung on tight, barely letting him go since.

Here we are, 11 years, 3 kids, a house, a few jobs and a handful of animals later. I still remember that day like it was yesterday, and today Andy shocked me by remembering, too (those of you who know Andy personally know that he doesn't usually remember such things). When he called from his lunch break, the first words out of his mouth were, "Happy Dating Anniversary!" He just had to beat me to it since he knew that I'd be surprised he remembered.

Over these past 11 years there have been a lot of ups and downs. What relationship doesn't have them, especially when it starts in high school? But we have been strong and stayed on the path that has brought us to where we are now-married, boring partners and parents. And we couldn't be any happier.

I love you, Andy! Let's make it another 11, 22, 33 or 44+ years since our "Dating Anniversary!"



For another trip down memory lane, here's our prom picture from 1997, when we'd been dating for only 2.5 months. Ugh, what a picture! LOL