*Nostalgia*

As our 17th anniversary approaches I am feeling nostalgic this week. I remember so many details of our 1st date including the thought that I would most likely never go out with John again. Thank goodness I didn't base my future off of that 1st impression :) If I had, where would we be now? John was 18 and had just graduated from Richland High School (which is now Richland Elementary). They built a new high school that has since been referred as Pine Richland. I only mention that because John says, Richland wasn't good enough for the rich folk that now control most of the real estate in the Northern Allegheny county area.

John was nervous, well that may even be an understatement. I remember he had forgotten to take his thyroid medication and was acting like it was some major ordeal. He acted like he might of had a melt down without it and I found it to be a little over the top. He had just been diagnosed with the under active thyroid when he was in a serious auto accident that April. Jeannie, who was one of my good friends at the time was a 2nd cousin of John's father (which is how we met) and decided to come along with us for the day and seemed to enjoy poking fun at John about his little quirks. John was not so enthused :) We decided to start out going to Eat n Park for lunch. I was working there at the time so mostly everyone there knew me and came over to say hi. The waitress at the time was Barb Emery, such a sweet lady (who has since passed away). I will never forget her comment that day. She said you look like such a wonderful couple. I know you will get married and have babies. I laughed and thought sure... that's going to happen. Long story short, she waited on us 1 yr. later as a newly engaged couple.

We left Eat n Park and went to McConnell's Mills State Park. It was beautiful that day so we walked along the trails where I sat on a bench with Jeannie and talked while John threw rocks into the water. I remember laughing and thinking "This boy is crazy". After the date was over I wasn't sure I'd ever hear from John again, nor was I sure I wanted to. I didn't think he was interested because he was certainly distracted during the date and didn't pay much attention to me. Looking back I don't even know if he talked to me more than a few times during the entire date. I think having Jeannie made him nervous because he knew she was my friend.

A couple days later John called and we talked on the phone for a long time. This was shocking because during the date we hardly talked at all. We continued to talk on the phone all week and eventually he ended up asking me out again only this time, just by ourselves. We dated for several times before he finally got up the nerve to even hold my hand or kiss me. I remember saying to his friend Mike, "am I not kissable" because he hadn't even attempted. Mike assured me John was very shy and would get around to it. It took about 6 dates before it happened. I was determined not to make the 1st move.

So here we are after getting engaged 1 year into our relationship and now 20 years later, 17 years of marriage and 2 beautiful boys. The point of this entire post is that we shouldn't always go off of our 1st instincts. A lot of events transpired between 1993 and 2013 but we're here, we're together and we will continue to bless each other's lives as long as God intends <3