10 Years

A couple of months ago I read several blogs that had stories about when they met their husbands.  Or pictures from that time through the present.

Well, today marks the 10th anniversary of when Eric and I first started to date.  At least the way I count it, Eric may count it from another date, but his memory isn't as good, so for this post we'll use today.

 Most of you who read this blog have known us from the start and/or shortly after we got married so hopefully this will be sort of a walk down memory lane for you as well. 

Eric and I were both leaders on the March for Life trip in 2003.  We met with the other leaders once a week throughout the fall to organize the trip.  The funny things is it took me crashing a wedding reception to realize that I might be interested in Eric.  After that wedding reception held in December, he and I started talking more outside of the meetings and secretly hoping to be placed on the same bus.  As it turned out, we were.  My code name was "blusher" which I was dubbed because I blushed everytime someone mentioned Eric's name.  Of course, he did not know this, but went along with whatever story I gave him.

We had a really wonderful March for Life experience finding ways to do things together.  Eric winked at me a couple of times which made my stomach do a flip. As they say in "Bambi" I was twitter painted.  

On the way home, Eric regaled me with stories of his previous girlfriends.  And how each relationship ended.  Yup.  Our priest, Fr. Vince, was sitting only a seat away, and I could tell he was being kept up with Eric's talking.  Eventually he leaned over and politely pointed out that everyone else on the bus was sleeping.  This halted the conversation for a time.  Later he told me that he just couldn't understand why Eric was telling me so much about previous girlfriends.  But, he was also delighted that he was at the start of our relationship.  You see, he was also one of the first ones to know that my mom was going to have me.  And he Baptized me.   One of my favorite memories of the weeks leading up to our wedding is when Eric won an award at St. Lawrence and Fr. Vince introduced him with the story about our bus conversation (along with his many other accomplishments).  He finished it with : "And he is going to marry that girl!".  

 

A few days after we returned from the March, Eric asked me out on a real date.  15 months later, we got engaged.  And a year later we were married.  It seems a long time ago, but then, again, it doesn't.  I remember so many things from those early days.  Like the fact I told him that Thursdays were my girls night and he wasn't to call me.  He did anyway...On January 30th, no less.  It almost derailed the whole relationship before it even got started.

But, when I watched him play basketball later that night, I knew he must really like me to publicly display his lack of coordination on the court.  He has some amazing talent when it comes to running and he was on crew, so everyone assumed he was a natural at basketball.  This is not the case. 

We got pregnant with Dom shortly after we were married, and oddly the pictures of just the two of us became few and far between.

But, we still manage to have a good time together.  People will ask what our secret is and frankly it is knowing that we have made a commitment before God and no man can separate that.  Therefore, your only choice is to work at it.  Which we do every day.  We do it through communication and most importantly forgiveness.  With a solid dose of laughter

And we have three wonderful kids that make everything worthwhile and really make you appreciate having a life partner to share the joy with.  No one loves your kids as much as the other spouse.  And you can't really complain about them in the same way as you can with the other person who has to deal with all of the hijinks, but then sees the humor of it.   Oh, and it doesn't hurt that we have been on a vacation for the last 8 years.  Thank you taxpayer!