19 Valentines

This day, 19 years ago, I celebrated an awkward Valentine's Day with my 16 year old boyfriend of about 3 weeks.  I was quite smitten with him and wanted to make it a special one.  My friend was dating his friend, so the two of us got together and made a plan for the guys.  We spent the afternoon making our very best batch of spaghetti and "baked" a Jell-O no bake cheesecake.  And for the gift I filled a plastic box with Skittles, my favorite candy, for him.  I just knew this was going to be a special night.

Turns out that my boyfriend was not a fan of spaghetti or cheesecake or Skittles.  But he was a trooper and ate the food.  He also made good use of the Skittles for at least the next day.  He drove around town with me and his buddies and flicked them out the window at poor unsuspecting pedestrians.  Oh to be a 16 year old guy with his own truck.  Boy was I impressed!  I still have the Valentine card he gave me that night in my hope chest.  I have always found it so amusing that he signed his first and last name on the card.  I have the chocolate box he gave me too (minus the chocolate).  It's filled with random memorabilia from our time together.  I am pretty sure we got into our first fight that night, but I can't remember why.  I just remember thinking it was the end of the world...for about 30 minutes, then we made up by not saying anymore about it and kissing. 

Here it is 19 years later and I am still quite smitten with that guy.  He is a loving husband, amazing dad and the man I get to spent my life with.  He is a gift from God.  We have, quite literally, grown up together, physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually.  It is such a blessing to be so young still (cough, cough) but have so much history with this man.  I love the memories we have together and I love the ones we continue to make together.  I love you, Shad!  I am so blessed to have had so many years with you and look forward to all the ones to come! 

Happy 19th Valentine's Day, Shad!