11 Years Ago Today

11 years ago, I was a junior college and met the most amazing man. We had met the previous fall while playing together in a praise band. Through our church college ministry and campus life, we had the opportunity to get to know each other and after spending countless hours on the phone that Christmas break felt God leading us to take the next step! We were both in a place where we didn’t want to date just to date but felt like the next person we dated would be The One even though we were still in college.

Before we made it official, John wanted to ask my dad’s permission to date me so we loaded up his Corolla and drove to Virginia for the weekend and thankfully my dad said yes (and John earned major brownie points (needless to say when he asked my dad for my hand in marriage he didn’t have to finish the question before my dad said yes – which just so happened to be the night before my first surgery for endometriosis – boy, he didn’t know what he was getting into).

After that weekend, being the romantic that he is, John wanted our first official date (and the start to our courtship) to be on Valentine’s Day! All throughout the day, I found little notes all over campus! Here are two of my favorites:

He had slipped one to my roommate to leave on my dresser when I got out of the shower . I had one waiting in my music locker when I got out of practice. Another was in my campus mail box. I recognized right away how lucky I was!

I cannot believe how fast the time is gone and what a roller coaster it has been but I wouldn’t trade a second of it. God has blessed me with the most wonderful man who is my best friend, my biggest fan, and my #1 advocate. I cannot wait to see what the next 11 years have in store!