Eleven years ago today...

Eleven years ago today, J and I went on our first date. Well, sorta. We didn't know it was a date. You see, we were students at WSU and neither of us had a car. My roommate, P, did. It was Veteran's Day and classes were cancelled, so the three of us decided to go see a movie. I don't even recall what movie it was. What I do recall was that when we got to the theater, P would not sit next to us. She said she felt like a "third wheel." This was surprising to me. The three of us would hang out together a lot, and it never seemed like anything other than a good friendship.

I mean, I had a crush on J, but thought we were just friends. He was my friend H's older brother, and someone I liked to hang out with. Apparently P could see something the two of us couldn't.

After the movie was over, we went back to the dorms. J and I talked, and decided that maybe we did want to try dating each other, see where it went. It was on this day eleven years ago that J ceased to be my friend's kinda goofy, but super sweet older brother, and instead became one of the most important and special people I've ever known.

Little did I know that the years would fly by and that our eleventh "anniversary" would find us married and still living in eastern Washington. Life is good. We have good jobs, a cute house that we love, two great cats, good friends, and food on the table. The only thing that would make it better is if we had kids of our own to love. We're working on that, but for now, life is grand.

I love J so much, I can't imagine life without him. Over the last eleven years we have grown so close. I know him better than I know anyone else in this world. I think he knows me better than anyone else, too, and that's a good feeling.

We don't have a stereotypical relationship, but that's okay with us. We are as opposite as they come. Sometimes that's frustrating, but most of the time, I think it makes us better people. We have polar opposite political beliefs. He is tall, and I am not. He likes hard rock, I love country. He likes to work outside, I have allergies and hate it. I love reality television, he can't stand it. I love romantic comedies, he likes sci-fi. I like cold beverages, he likes hot beverages. I like red and pink Starburst, he likes yellow and orange. I like to go to bed early and get up early, he stays up late and sleeps in. The list goes on and on and on.

While we are opposite in so many ways, we are similar in the ways that really count. We love each other. We love our families. We like to laugh, and have similar senses of humor. We value honesty, and strive to be honest all the time. We are hard workers and responsible. The bottom line is that we may be opposite on the surface, but our core values are pretty much the same.

We've had good times and we've had bad times, but we've weathered them all. I look forward to what comes next. Happy "anniversary," J!