Young Love

Warning: I use the "L" word a lot in this post. It kind of makes me blush a little...

Our first date was 11 years ago today (but we've only been married a wimpy 4.5 years so I like to celebrate the first date anniversary). This is not a picture from our first date...I would never have been so  flirty on a first date. There really aren't many pictures from that time...this is one of the best ones if you can believe that.

A few weeks ago I was going through some boxes and found my journal from freshman year (affectionately  nicknamed the "Drew Journal" because I only wrote about him). Sadly (or luckily) there are only a few entries. Andrew and I laughed so hard we almost cried as we read it. It was so embarrassing to read how specific I was about the silliest things. A play-by-play of how he first connived his way into holding my hand; a detailed report of a conversation my friend had with him on the phone where she "got the goods" about his game plan to win me over. I scrupulously recorded all her questions and his responses. Did I ever study that year? I half expected to find a note, passed to him in class that read, "Do you like me? Circle yes or no." Luckily I guess we had our maturity standards, even back then.

It was so fun to remember that time and the drama and intensity of young love. But I am so glad that kind of whirlwind craziness doesn't last forever. Otherwise we would still be on long walks late at night until 3am and constantly wondering if the other person liked us or not (actually I'm pretty sure Andrew never worried about things like that... he was always self-assured in that way). If young love lasted forever, our children would go hungry and naked as we spent hours on the phone talking about nothing or planning our next date. No, it is best for young love to run its coarse and then leave so that a more stable, meaningful, confident, comfortable, and sustaining love can take over. A much more mature love is definitely for me. The kind where you can read through an old journal together and laugh in all the same places. The kind where your husband gets up with the kids and lets you sleep in an extra hour (which might be the most attractive thing a husband can do -hint, hint). The kind where you can feel free to develop other areas of your life because you have someone else in your corner who will help you laugh it off and try again when you trip up. I'm a big fan of this old fogie kind of love...I like getting more sleep at night.

I don't know quite how we got from there to here over the past 11 years (although I have covered portions of it in other posts) but here's to 11 years miele...