Diamonds

Today Doug and I celebrate TEN, count them, TEN years of wedded bliss. As Bode has started to say, "HOLY COW!" In many ways, I can't believe how quickly time has passed. But it also feels like we've been together a lifetime already (in a positive way!).

Here is a little rundown of some of our "firsts"...

First Meeting: We actually met for the very first time at a BYU football game in September or October 1996. Evidently, neither one of us was very impressed and Doug doesn't even remember it (I have a mind that retains very trivial info, so i remember). So the first time we met that meant something was mid-December 1996 ice skating at Seven Peaks in Provo. My friend, Sarah, lived with Doug's sister, Alyson, and they decided to get a group of people together to go ice skating. Doug and I were some of those people. I remember thinking he was good-looking, liked his build and noticed his good energy. We made a date that night.

First Date: One of those lame BYU group dates (I was not a fan of the group date idea). A bunch of people getting together to make pies. Doug and I decided to leave and do our own thing after a bit. We met just before Christmas break, so i was excited when Doug called me the Thursday after school was back in session and asked me to go to the BYU/Utah basketball game.

First Kiss: Honestly, I don't really remember our first kiss all that clearly. But I do remember the first time I knew he wanted to kiss me. We were in SLC (snow) tubing, taking a break, sitting together on the hill. His roommate, Joel, came running by, stopped long enough to whisper something to Doug about, "if you don't kiss her now..." which I guess I wasn't supposed to hear. But my supersonic hearing was underestimated. As Joel moved on, I looked at Doug and commented, "Oh, you don't want to do that." To which his response was something to the effect of, oh, but I do...I told him i didn't want to move too fast, as I believed this had ruined a couple previous relationships (thank goodness!). I think it was, oh, the next night?, that we were watching Batman at my townhouse and we had our first kiss. How's that for slowing things down?

First Song: "Our song" is and will always be Alison Krauss' "When You Say Nothing At All." Since then, we've made it a point to see her in concert whenever she's in town, and she always seemed to be in the DC area right around our anniversary, which was perfect!

First Fight: You know, we really have never truly had a fight. I give credit to Doug for this for simply apologizing when it's not his fault and totally putting up with my attitude. But if I can think of one, when we were dating, I do remember our first Valentine's Day...We had plans to go to the BYU volleyball match and he was late. And I was NOT playing games. I'd played games and had games played on me in previous relationships and I was done with that whole scene. So being late was a problem for me. I remember my roommate, Alisha, saying something like, "give him a break..." but I was ticked. Then I walk into my room to find that he's made sure she (Alisha) put flowers and a bear from him in there. Something about getting this gift had made him late. So, I thought long and hard and decided to forgive him, just this once ;) Our first fight while we were married had to do with a credit card bill. We had just gotten married and we were both graduating in December. We had zero money and I had figured out where what little we had was going to go--rent, tuition, books, food; etc. Then I got the mail one day and found a credit card bill for $500. I was livid. Doug had "forgotten" about it and now I was trying to figure out how we were going to pay it. To give him much credit, Doug paid his way through college (and his mission) and it was not unusual for him to have to decide between groceries and rent. So to only be $500 in the hole was pretty phenomenal. And it all worked out.

First Gifts: I guess my first gift from Doug was the bear and flowers. And mine to him was a deflated volleyball with a cheesy card that said something about "like this volleyball our love will grow." We still have that volleyball.

First Big Trip: Our honeymoon to the Columbia Gorge and the coast of Oregon. We splurged and went to Aruba in December of 2002. Otherwise, most of our trips have been to see Doug's family in Oregon or quick camping trips, our annual Outer Banks trip and one great trip to NYC.

First Apartment: We lived in a 500 sq ft furnished apartment at Union Square just off campus. Small but perfect. We were there just one semester and then moved to Virginia.

First Major Purchases Together: With our wedding money we bought a TV and a VCR. The TV just blew up after our move to Colorado and the VCR is in the closet but still functional. After graduation, our major purchase was a dark blue Saturn SL2. We sold it just last year to buy our minivan.

First House: We bought our first house at 9351 Wheatsheaf Way in Columbia, Maryland in June of 2002. We found it on a quick trip up there on my birthday weekend after Doug found out he had the job (his first job after getting his MBA). It needed a lot of work and we put so much into it and made it ours. I actually miss it sometimes.

It's been a fantastic ride, these past ten years. Getting married just as we were getting out of college, I feel like we kind of grew up with each other. Grew into our adulthood, that is. First apartments, jobs, and real life responsibilities. It's hard to believe sometimes that we have two small children and the life we do. I'm so blessed to have Doug to share my life--so solid, hard-working, caring.

So, here's to many, many more decades together!