2.22.02

Nine years ago at this exact moment, I was getting to know the man that would become my husband.

We were sophomores in college, and we were both out at one of the local college-town bars as part of a large group of friends. It was a Friday night. I was there with my roommates. He was there with his. A few of my roommates knew a few of his roommates. One thing led to another, we all got to talking and drinking. You know how that goes, especially in college.

I was familiar with most of the guys in his group--we all lived in the same dorm building. The guys lived right downstairs from us girls, Michael included. I had seen him around (we were actually in a public speaking class together that semester), but we had never really talked.

After a while at the bar, my roommates were bailing on me. One by one, two by two, they all began packing up to head home for the night, but I was having fun and wasn't ready to go back. It was always our "rule" not to leave a girlfriend out alone, so we were discussing whether I should stay out or go back with them. The guys all reassured my friends that they would watch out for me, so I stayed behind to hang out with them. Soon, however, they were ready to go to a bar that I couldn't get into (so funny to think back on those days, isn't it?), and I was unsure of what I was going to do. But then, this guy that I had just met, Michael, chimed in--"I'll stay with her." We all agreed that Michael and I would stay behind at the bar-that-didn't-I.D.-me while the other guys went ahead, and we would meet up at the bar-that-let-minors-in-all-the-time in an hour or so.

And so I found myself face to face with this Michael guy. Just the two of us. We got to talking and found out we had a lot in common. Although college was a few hours away from home, we soon determined that we were actually from the exact same town (he just happened to go to the neighboring school district instead of the same one as me). I actually didn't believe him. I made him show me his license so I could see his zip code. :) We found out that the houses we were planning to rent for junior year with our roommates were on the same street. We both worked for the same company (different locations) back home.

Soon, it was time to meet up with the rest of the guys again, so we set out to walk to the next bar together. It was on the walk that he told me he had just celebrated his 21st birthday. Again, I didn't believe him. (Man, I was a skeptic!) Again, I made him show me his license. HA!

Despite my carding him twice on our first "date," we obviously hit it off. We unofficially dated each other for a few months before making our relationship official (meaning we were EXCLUSIVE, y'all) on April 28.

We've been together ever since.

It's amazing to look back at where we started, knowing that we had no idea then that we'd end up where we are now, married with the most beautiful baby girl we could ever dream of having.

Nine years! We're not much for celebrating little anniversaries like this, but there will never be a February 22 that goes by that I don't remember 2.22.02.