Happy Anniversary Smart Guy

Thirteen years ago today, I became Mrs. Smart Guy. I can't believe it's been that long already.

We met the very first day I was on campus at the same small Christian college that Farmwife and Inkling also attended. I was there for Freshmen orientation. I have no clue why Smart Guy was already there, as he was a junior and not due to be there for another two days. But not only was he on campus, he was participating in all the goofy games and such they had us little freshmen doing. The older sister of a church camp friend who was also attending the same school introduced us that day. (the older sister was supposed to be there, as she was helping with the freshmen) We talked some and he claims that I followed him around like a puppy dog. Whatever!

Two days later, we ended up sitting next to one another in a missions class. We chatted while we waited for class to start and he asked me out. That afternoon he found out that the counselor who had told him that the missions class from the college he'd
attended for a year and a half didn't count at this one, didn't know what she was talking about.... so he dropped the class.

The next night we went on our first date. We drove to the city 30 minutes away, went to a movie, and got something to eat. When we got back to campus, he kissed me in the gazebo... Farmwife and Inkling, you know where I'm talking about.

We spent the next several months spending almost every waking moment together... except when we were in class. We ate breakfast together many times a week, sat together in chapel, ate lunch together, he drove me to work, we ate dinner together, played pool together, "studied" together, walked together, and ordered pizza for "picnics" on the floor outside my dorm hallway (guys and girls were forbidden on one another dorm floors). When we said goodnight to each other and then walked the 30 seconds we each had back to our dorm rooms, we would call each other when we got there to talk more. I think we drove poor Inkling crazy the year we roomed together.

On Super Bowl Sunday 1993, my dad and Smart Guy were watching the game together when Smart Guy asked my dad if he could marry me. He said "Sure, but your asking the wrong person."

The next week I was very sick with a cold (much like I am now) and missed several days of classes. The day I finally managed to drag my sorry butt to chapel, I was tired, still not feeling great, and facing a make-up test later that day, Smart Guy asked me to walk back to his dorm with him for some strange reason. I told him no, I was too tired to walk that far... so he got down on one knee right there in the chapel hallway and proposed to me. Suddenly I felt a little better and mustered up the energy to walk over to his dorm. That evening, we drove home to tell my parents.

Our first wedding date was set for June 18, 1994. After a couple of months, we moved it up to December 18, 1993. Unfortunately in August of 1993, we broke-up. Smart Guy suddenly became nervous that I didn't have what it takes to be a minister's wife and the willingness to follow him around the country if the occasion called for it. The ridiculous part is that nobody on campus ever knew we had broke-up. We were still together all the time. We had forgotten to take our names off the married-student-housing list and one Saturday morning while we sat in the cafeteria eating breakfast, a staff member came in and told us that our apartment was open and one of us could move in that day. So Smart Guy moved in. We set the wedding date for March 5, 1994 and started planning our wedding again. I made him sleep on the couch in our new apartment, because I didn't want him to sleep in "our" bed without me too.

So, on March 5, 1994, after being together for only 19 months, we got married. I was 19 and Smart Guy was 21. Two very young and very different people started their lives together.

When I think back, I realize how young we actually were. I mean, common sense told me that we were only 19 and 21, but at that age one doesn't think that to be young. I think the biggest challenge in front of us though was how absolutely different we were. We were raised in very different parts of the country, by very different parents. Not to mention that we are just simply wired as opposites.

We spent the first four years of our marriage getting to know one another's quirks. We argued alot, about stupid stuff mostly. Then there came a point where we finally grew-up and quit arguing... We became parents for the first time around that time.

Nowadays, we seldom argue. That fight (that I started) we had back in December was the last argument we've had and it had been a long time before that since the last one. We're best-friends. He's my life. I love him more today than I ever have. He loves me and is committed to me for the rest of his life. He takes care of me and if the truth be told, he spoils me in alot of ways. Sometimes I wonder how he has put up with me for so long. I cannot believe we've been sharing life for this long. I feel like our wedding day was just a short while ago and now here we are... three kids, four pets, seven church positions and crazy church boards, eleven cars, thirteen homes, a zillion medical bills, loads of love and laughter, and even more patience later and we're one of the best couples that I know.

I love my life. Yah, we've been to hell and back a couple of times, but we always come back better people. Would I want to rewind and do it all again? Well, a few things I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy... but those things have changed us and made us better... they've made us lean on God and each other even more. Nah, I don't think I'd want to rewind and do it again, but I also wouldn't change any of it. It's been quite a ride.

As for the getting married so young part? Some people look at their lives when they marry young and say they changed after they grew-up and grew into very different people. Personally, we grew-up together. We learned everything there is to know about being grown-ups together. We've never known anything but being together. That's who we are. We are Smart Guy and Grace and always will be.

Thank you "Poochie" for being mine for thirteen years today. I absolutely cannot imagine my life without you next to me. I thank our Father Above that your counselor put you in the wrong missions class for that first day of class. I love you so incredibly much!!