So I wasn’t really thinking about it because of a busy day at work, but my husband reminded me that we met 9 years ago today! I was 18 and he was 18 and we had been chatting online (AOL used to rule my world) for a little while. He invited me to Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights. I had never been there and it sounded like fun, so I decided I would go.

Now thinking back, it was a really stupid thing for an 18 year old girl to do – driving an hour out to a city she’d never been to before, planning to hang out with a guy she’d never met, and being the naive, trusting girl that she once was. It was a fun night though. He was harmless and we kissed for the first time during the Wild West Stunt Show (romantic, I know). He never tried to go too far during the kissing in the car as the night came to a close, either. I thought he was cute and respectful. And he thought my name was Jennifer.

Yes, I had lied about my name, because:
1) The pronunciation of my real name can be complicated and
2) He was a total stranger!

I thought he might be into me when my Dad mentioned that he kept getting messages for a Jennifer on our voicemail… All I said was “That’s weird…” But he found out my real name on our second date. After a close call with a Jennifer Leather and Convertibles store (I couldn’t understand why he was pointing it out to me) I sat him down and told him the truth. He totally used a line, and it worked… “I’m falling for you, not your name.” So smooth. I thought it was sweet and we kept taking the hour drive to see each other on weekends.

Its been up and down for the last 9 years, and we had a really rough patch when we weren’t together for almost 3 of those years. But I must say the last 3 years that we’ve lived together and the last 1 year that we have been married has been amazing. I literally love him more every day.

Things are actually SO good, that I keep wondering when something terrible is going to happen. I know that’s a horrible way of thinking, but its human nature. When you get used to going through hard times and then all of a sudden things are great – you naturally get suspicious.

Knock on wood that it stays good for a LOOONG, LOOONG time!