A love story for the ages...or something like that.

In my down time - when I decide to take advantage of it and not sleep - I read people's blogs.  Mike thinks it is weird. He'll say, "Who is that?" And I'll say, "I don't know." Strangely the more I read these blogs, the better I get to know these people I have never met and probably will never meet!

Anyway. A trend that I am seeing time and again is that a lot of bloggers post their love stories. I think it is sweet, and I have enjoyed reading some of them. However writing a very detailed, maybe too-much-information-for-some entry is not really my thing. Maybe I am not really a love-story-type-of-share-er. 

But maybe I need to step out of the box.

So here goes...

Mike and I actually went to junior high and high school together. He was the grade above me. His older brother was a grade above my brother, and his little brother was in the grade below me.

I always knew who the Smith brothers were. At least two of my friends at any one time had a crush on any or all three of them. 

One of my earliest memories is of the Smith boys at dartball game in the basement of a church. I was part of my church's dartball league. Some of the men from my church very kindly allowed me to join their league, even though I was awful at it. Fortunately for all parties involved, I only played one season.

I remember thinking the Smith boys were quite cool as they showed up after the game and they were wearing their school jackets.

I - on the other hand - was more than likely sporting frizzy hair, coke bottle glasses, a rainbow striped shirt with a teddy bear applique, ill-fitting jeans and combat boots (well that's what I called them because I so desperately wanted to be cool...but I digress..)

It is no wonder that Mike does not remember interacting with me there. Probably because I didn't actually interact. I think I just stared. 

Fast forward a couple years, and I was part of my school's newspaper class. Mike got a pass from the teacher to opt out of study hall and grade tests (aka goof off) during that period. I vividly remember him putting a rubber glove over his head and blowing it up with his nose until his face turned bright red and the teacher freaked out and made him stop.

I don't remember what I was thinking at the time, but I can imagine it might have been along the lines of - What is up with this guy?!

Fast forward a few more years and Mike had joined the Army. I saw him twice during that time - once at school while he was doing hometown recruiting, and another time on the porch at my parents. (Just a few steps away from where we would share our first kiss five years later.) I was having a party, and my best friend's boyfriend (who she is now married too!) was best friends with Mike - and her boyfriend and Mike were standing out in the cold chatting.

I invited them in, and somewhere floating around is a picture of Mike sitting in the family room at my parents house. He did not believe me that this had even taken place until I showed him the picture. Clearly I made an impression on him at that time ;) Ha!

Fast forward a few more years, and I was at church on the Sunday before Memorial Day and I saw Mike (in uniform) and his younger brother carrying the flags in for the church service. I remember thinking - WHOA. Mike is HOT. (I think he was always good looking but I just noticed it that Sunday in particular.)

A month or two later we were both involved in a Bible study put on by above-mentioned dating-now-married best friends (who did not even try to set us up by the way).  Mike didn't really catch my attention (outside of me thinking he was hot...I thought it was a longshot.) UNTIL...he mentioned that we should all go to the lake and he included me in his invitation.

Then things got interesting. The sad thing is that post-baby, I cannot remember for the life of me the timelines in which the following events played out. I used to have SUCH a good memory, but now everything is fuzzy. So this is my best guess...and I would ask Mike, but I doubt he would remember and he is at work any way.

SO...My brother was home for a visit, and Mike used the guise of coming over to show my brother pictures of his time in Iraq to see me. Only I was not home - I was at a wedding that I desperately wanted him to be my date too but I did not have the courage to ask him. The night before I was at the wedding rehearsal and my mom called me on my friend's house phone to specifically tell me that Mike had called for me.

Around this same time Mike and I went up to the lake with above-mentioned best friends and another friend and we hung out at the campground where my parents had a trailer. My parents were going to spend the weekend up there and they showed up later that evening right before we left.

My dad called me to the other side of the camper where he was probably dumping the black tank of the camper (ha!) and he said, "Has he asked you out yet?" I said, "No..." and he said, "What is he waiting for?!"

Clearly Mike was being quite obvious about his interest in me. So much so that even my dad who had pressing matters like...dumping the black tank on the camper...haha!...noticed :)

Knowing that my parents approved of Mike and were just as excited for me meant the world. LOVE my parents. They are the best.

Throughout this time, Mike and I were also helping out with my church's middle school youth group. (Yes - lots going on...it was a busy summer but probably the best one ever.) He came over one night to drop off a new agenda, and he had shaved...he had been trying to grow a beard. I remember saying, "You shaved!" And then rubbing my hand over his jaw. That was really quite forward of me, but it seemed completely natural for the both of us.

I ended up asking him out, and we went to see Spiderman 2. It was our first date. Mike went away to visit friends for the next week, but when he came home - we went to Wendy's with a group of people. After everyone left, we stood in the parking lot and chatted, and Mike asked if he could see me again.

Our fledgling relationship weathered a trip to Cincinnati where we chaperoned a bunch of middle schoolers and Mike leaving for college. One year later we were engaged, and a year after that we were married.

I was going to close with the very cliche - "And as they say, the rest...is history."

But I thought maybe some pictures would be fun

I look super tan. (Yay for fake-baking that summer.) And I look pretty annoyed, but I don't know why. I think my brother took this picture? I can't remember. 

Our first picture together! But he has a beard in this picture. Crap. What did I screw up in my timeline above? Oh well.

Up at the lake :)