A Special Anniversary

It has been a pretty low-key day.  Church this morning, then lunch, taking down the Christmas decorations, a nap for Luke (which means blogging time for me!), but then I fell asleep for an hour in Luke's room.  Oh well ~ best laid plans ...  :-)

The kitties are being lazy with me. 

It has been a good start to the new year so far ~ I have had off work since Wednesday.  It is going to be hard to go back after a 2 day weekend, let alone 5 days.  But I've enjoyed my time off.  I needed it.  DH and I started to hang curtains in our living room, and we got as far as one window before his back hurt pretty bad, so I finished the remainder of installing the rods and curtains (girl power!).  I love the curtains!!  They add more personality to the house and gives a more finished look than just the blinds themselves (plus they were on Sale!).  This "new look" is a drastic change from the ugly that was the living room when we bought the house.  Couldn't do anything BUT make it look better.  Haha!!

DH and I celebrated our 10 year dating Anniversary on December 31, 2014.  We met 10 years ago on New Years Eve 2004 after mutual friends of ours (who were dating at the time) set us up together.  We were the "single" people they each knew, and my friend Suzanne knew that DH met my "height" requirement (gotta be as tall / taller than me (I'm 6'1")), so they planned to go out with us on a double date to Grisanti's Italian Restaurant.  

By that point in my dating life (I was 23), I'd had several awkward dates.  There was one creepy guy who told me, "I like your hairy arms" (say what??!!??  yes - he truly did say that!  Who compliments a girl on her arm hair?!), there was another where we didn't have anything really to talk about (thanks, Yahoo Personals - you did a great job on compatibility there) and there was one guy I met who seemed like he was trouble in every sense of the word, so that ended rather quickly.  I wasn't the person who dated just so I wasn't single.  I was pretty choosy about who I liked and often they either didn't like me back or were unattainable (thinking of you, Josh-Hartnett-in-Pearl-Harbor!!).  

For that reason, I didn't want to really meet this "new guy" and took my time in getting to my friends apartment to meet DH.  I remember walking in and he was sitting on the couch and I saw that he had a beard.  I didn't know if I could like a guy with a beard.  That made him seem old.  (Ironically, DH is 1.5 years younger than me.)  Other than noticing his beard, I can't really recall what his face looked like at that moment.  I know he wore a dark blue sweater and jeans and had a "leather" coat (I thought "wow, this guy's rich! LOL!!).  We made small talk and then we all got in my car to drive into town to the restaurant.  Everything was going fine on the drive to the restaurant ~ I was open to the possibility of getting to know DH better ~ so at the restaurant, I was talking to him and asking him questions.  DH never directly answered my questions.  He only answered my questions while looking at my friend, Suzanne, or his friend, Blake.  Not to me.  At all.  

This was pretty weird, and I was getting frustrated towards the end of the meal (not showing it of course), but I wondered what I had done for him to ignore me.  Did I have something in my teeth?  Was there a big zit on my face somewhere?  Did I look goofy when I smiled?  Bad breath?  Was I annoying?

I figured he just didn't like me that way (no one had so far, so it was no big surprise, just a disappointment).  I remember driving back to my friend's apartment with DH in the front seat and our friends in the back seat.  I was fiddling with the radio station and remember thinking that this was such a crappy date.  He didn't like me.  He didn't talk to me.  What was the point?  I wanted the night to be over.

We got back to Suzanne's apartment and hung out a bit more.  My sister came over and we all started playing games.  DH started looking at me when he was playing and actually ended up talking TO me and made some funny jokes.  I started to think, maybe he's not such a bad guy.  He's kind of cute ... :-)  As the night wore on, everyone went to bed, but DH and I turned a movie on (The Italian Job).  During the movie, I remember thinking that I didn't want the date to end.  DH seemed like a really nice guy and I wanted to get to know him better.  

Before DH and his friend drove back to Kansas the next day (January 1, 2005), we made plans to talk via Messenger.  So that's what we did for a few weeks.  Then it became phone calls.  Then a few months later, it became a $650 cell phone bill because I was over my phone minutes.  One of our record phone calls was 5 hours and 43 minutes (DH wrote it down.  I don't think he had ever talked to a "girl" that long.)  

By April / May 2005, I knew DH was "The One," so I began exploring job opportunities in Kansas.  One of us was driving each weekend to see the other (it was 4 hours one way).  I moved to Kansas in June 2005.  I "begged" DH to let me know when he was going to propose to me (I couldn't wait ~ I wanted the "rest of my life" to begin "right now").  DH proposed to me on October 30, 2005 and we were married on August 5, 2006.  

DH and I were reminiscing on our "10 Year Anniversary Date" this past Friday, and we were recounting our "First Date" story again, and I learned something new that I had never known before.  DH told me his thought from 10 years ago was that the restaurant part of our date (where he didn't talk to me) actually went really well!!! :-)  LOL!!!

DH posing with our yummy food! 

(Note the address ... 1010.  10 years for each of us!  We realized that later after DH's brother pointed it out to us.)