Happy 10th Anniversary to My Childhood Crush

This Thursday we celebrate 10 year of marriage, but I will never remember the day I first met my husband. I was far too young, just a little baby.

He was a cute 5 year old boy at my first birthday party! There is proof in pictures; I certainly have no recollection of this.

Adrian has four younger sisters, two that are almost exactly the same age as my older sister and me. From the time we were babies our mothers would visit together, and we would go out to the Seely farm to pick strawberries and string beans. We girls had many sleepovers, and I would totally be lying if I said Lilli and I didn't care about the fact that our friends had three older brothers :) That was so great!

I was probably only 8 or 9 when I had my first crush on Adrian. While his sister Angela and I were sitting in her room talking, he came in to show us this silly gadget he had just gotten. It looked like a mini satellite and enabled him to be in a room and point toward a wall to hear the conversation in the adjacent room. I was quite impressed...by both the gadget and the demonstrator...hehe. Of course, I kept this secret even though my friend suspected it.

When I was 14, he interrupted our Ping-Pong game wearing a cowboy hat and long dark coat. Those clear Seely blue eyes looked at me from under the dark rim of his hat, making him look so ruggedly handsome at 17...be still my heart.

But then he left. He went away to college in Canada for four years. I still remember thinking, By the time he comes back, I'll be older and prettier.

For the next six years, I only saw him twice. Once, at my high school graduation party and another time when our families went out ice skating during a college break.

Late into my junior year of college, I was going full speed ahead with my studies and preparing to be editor of the college paper my senior year when my little world was surprisingly interrupted. While working on my latest news article, an unknown instant message screen popped up (remember when IM was big?)  For about 5 minutes I bantered back and forth with this unknown person before Adrian revealed his true identity. Oh, this is kind of exciting! Next thing I knew, I was spending a lot of time at the computer hoping that IM name would pop up.

Adrian was actually an over-the-road truck driver at the time. (Fun Fact: he's been to every U.S. state except Hawaii!) Within a week he told me that he'd be "in my area" and asked to meet up. I later found out he actually had to drive hundreds of miles out of his way to be within an hour of me. We met up at a truck stop in Roanoke, Va. and I drove us over to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. He still laughs at me for ordering dessert for breakfast - French toast with candied peaches and whip cream. I ate every bite.

He had been involved in a couple relationships, while I'd had a few interests but nothing too serious. After that first date, he left the girl he was with and pursued me relentlessly. He is a romantic, much more than me actually. We had many ups and downs while dating, but less than a year later I said "Yes" when he proposed to me during one of his regular visits to Liberty University.

Our engagement photo, look at that young guy!

It was just one week after my 21st birthday, and yes I was nervous about being a Mrs. at such a young age. But here we are, still together 10 years later. It wasn't easy, but it's been so worth it.

Our wedding program read:

FIRST, CHILDHOOD PLAYMATES

THEN THE BEST OF FRIENDS

TODAY MAN AND WIFE

That's the story of how all of this really began. Happy 10th Anniversary, my Love!

Here we are today, actually about two weeks ago ;)