I used to write pretty regularly, and once upon a time actually planned on going to school for journalism. Anymore, I’ll “write” some of my best stuff in my head while I drive and then I never get it down. I do however have random files saved on my computer when moments of inspiration strike. Some of them are partial blog posts for here and some of them are more personal notes along the lines of a journal. One random day last April I wrote a file after watching a movie. I honestly couldn’t even tell you what movie it was. I can guarantee you though that it was a total chick flick that I watched, while snuggled up with the cats because Mitch was at the ballpark working and I didn’t think I should torture him with yet another sappy movie. I randomly ran across that file today and found it very fitting for a Valentine’s day post. As sappy as it may sound, I have plans to someday put Mitch and my love story all down on paper and this was just a small part of it:
The Moment That Life as I Knew It Changed
The Summer of 2004 I had big plans for. It was my first time out truly on my own. At the end of it I was moving nearly 400 miles from anyone I knew and I was excited to blaze my own path. I was going to meet new people, I was going to steer clear of relationships to figure out who I was and to start my life. Then along you came and changed everything.
It wasn’t love at first sight. In fact I think I tried to talk myself out of those feelings for months, even though I felt them soon after our first date. You were after all supposed to be just a summer fling, just something fun to tide me over until my life began.
We had been out on a month’s worth of dates, and by this point were spending every moment together. And when we weren’t together we were sending hundreds and even thousands of text messages back and forth. That night you had coached a game up in Oshkosh, Nebraska and I of course had ridden along. It was late at this point and we had just gotten back on the road. The sky was so incredibly clear that you could see every star possible. We were coming around the curves on our way back to Sedgwick when it happened. We had some music on, but I couldn’t tell you what was playing. We weren’t talking, which was pretty odd for us, but we were holding hands. Your Camaro came around the curve and I remember looking up seeing how beautiful the sky was, looking back at you in the darkness, only lit up by the dash lights and knowing that from here on out everything was different.
I can’t say that at that moment I knew that I was going to marry you or even that you were going to be around for longer than that summer. I did know that I didn’t have to keep waiting for life to begin.
This photo was taken that first month we were dating, at a Rockies game (on what had to be one of the first camera phones, lol). I may not have known at the time, but I know now that this life wouldn’t be complete without him. Happy Valentine’s Day Mitch.
-alm
