15

On the 26th of this month is our 15th dating anniversary.

That means that we will have been dating for the same amount of years that Evan was alive when we actually started dating.

That means next year, at 16 years of dating, Evan will have had me in his life longer than he was without me in his life.

Mind boggling.

Elisabeth has been very curious about how Evan and I met lately. She asks about when we met, our first few dates, etc. She thinks it's funny that Evan and my sister were in 4th grade and that I may have seen Evan and not known even known it. "Mom, what if you did see him! Wouldn't that be weird to see him and know that you were going to marry him?!"

I told Evan that I might write down our story for the kids. He asked why, "it's not really that exciting". And, to be honest, it's not exciting in a romantic movie type of way. There's no "love at first sight" moment, no huge dramatic break up scene, no old boyfriends or girlfriends to bicker over. But, when we are introducing ourselves to new people (which happens all the stinking time in the military), we often get asked how long we've been married or when we met. People always are impressed to find out we're high school sweethearts. They become amazed when they find out how young we were when we started dating (15 and 17, respectively) and that we never broke up. I had one spouse of Evan's co-worker tell me that Evan and I were a rarity. "You don't hear about hometown high school sweethearts too often anymore."

I'm not sure how true it is that we're a rarity, but I do understand wanting to hear more about how we met and ended up staying together. I love hearing how people met; I think it's a great way to learn more about them. There are usually funny stories or inside jokes that the couple has told so often they have it down to a finely tuned art when they tell the story to new friends. There's that history of a couple that shapes and develops them into who they are today as individuals, but more importantly, who they are as a couple. Those are the stories that Elisabeth is looking for, the stories that made her parents from being just Evan and Virginia into Evan&Virginia.

So, I think I will write down our story. It may not be interesting to others, but I think our kids will appreciate having it someday when we aren't there to tell it anymore. Plus, I need to write it down before I forget parts. Isn't that sad to think that someday I may not remember all the details as well as I do right now? Like the first time I ever heard Evan's voice. Or the first time I went to his house. Or the first time we held hands.

But, I really feel that the part of our story that I like best is that because we decided to start dating, because we decided to really commit to our relationship forever, we have three beautiful people in our house that are here because of us deciding to be boyfriend and girlfriend 15 years ago.