anniversary countdown

I had this great idea to do a TOP TEN countdown of funny, memorable stories from the dating/newlywed archives of Janet and Aaron. We're about to celebrate our ten year anniversary and I wanted to share stories that I love, but ones that aren't significant enough to be written in my journal. I was going to start on June 6th and post one story every day until our anniversary. Well, June 6th came and went and now it's only 8 days until our big day. Maybe I will do a top 8. Maybe I will do a top 3. Hopefully this won't be the only one.

This past week, I had one of my most embarrassing moments ever. My cheeks are flushed and my heart is beating faster just thinking about it. I would write about it here, but I just can't. It's too soon... and I would ruin my impeccable reputation. What I will say is that I was on the phone with my husband seconds after it happened. I tell him anything & everything. He laughs at me, but he doesn't judge me. We have a good thing going, he and I.

From the first second I met Aaron, I felt incredibly comfortable around him. In fact, I probably felt too comfortable. It took me a long time to realize what we had was LOVE because it was nothing like I had read about in books or seen on movies, and it was far from anything I had experienced from dating relationships in the past. I never felt nervous around Aaron. I didn't need to impress or try to be someone I wasn't. I believe that I fell in love with him gradually, until one day I realized that being with him meant that I was the best version of myself. I could talk to him about anything.. and honestly, this was the #1 reason I was afraid to take our friendship to the next level. I needed him in my life and I would have been devastated if I jeopardized our relationship for a 2-week romance.

One thing that set Aaron apart from any other guy on campus was the random conversations we had in between classes. We never had a class together and didn't really meet up to study or hang out-- but we ran into each other often. I loved randomly bumping into him. He never had books or a back pack. He usually had a pen behind his ear and he wandered around without a care in the world.. (some things never change.) But from the beginning, our small chat was never small chat. We didn't shoot the breeze talking about the weather. We got into the habit of sharing random bits of information that, if pieced together, would never make sense to anyone else. I grew accustomed to expecting the unexpected from him and he made it easy for me to express my random thoughts.

Although there are hundreds experiences to share (many of them written down because we emailed often) one random meeting sticks out in my mind. I had known Aaron for a few short weeks when I ran into him off campus. It was a crisp afternoon in the fall of 1998. I was on the way home from a jog and he was hitting the tennis courts just behind my apartment. I saw him across a busy street and he motioned for me to slow down. I waited for him to cross and I thought to myself that there was no way I had a crush on this guy... if I did, I would be stressed about my sweaty hair, my grungy outfit and my lack of makeup. But I wasn't. I was genuinely happy to run into him and I could tell he was happy to see me too.

As I jogged in place, I remember Aaron telling me how much he loved tennis and how he wished he could do it for a living. This led to him talking about his high school experience on the tennis team, which led to the time he was 12 (or so) living in Texas where he met a kid named Sparky. I still can picture the expression on his face as he told me about how he and his friends would stay up all hours of the night playing ping-pong until they could play no longer... and they would drink so much Tang that they would make themselves sick... and then they would lay down and listen to the Tang swish back and forth in their bellies. I have no idea what I said in response to this information, but I distinctly remember jogging away from the tennis courts, waving goodbye and shaking my head in bewilderment. I was smiling as I said to myself, "WHO is this guy and why on Earth did he just tell me that story?"

Years later, I find myself listening to random stories by this same weird guy. Sometimes we are jogging next to each other. Sometimes it's while at the park with our kids. Sometimes it's next to him in bed-- and it's SO ridiculously late that I curse him for being a night owl. Sometimes it's over dinner at a quiet restaurant. Sometimes it's while loading the dishwasher together. Most recently it was on the way home from a fun, spontaneous road trip. Oh how I love taking road trips with him-- it's hours of guaranteed good conversation.

Ten years of random stories can really teach you something about someone. The more I learn about him, the more I love. He continues to surprise me and he always goes the extra mile to get a reaction out of me. I often find myself shaking my head in bewilderment and asking myself, "WHO is this guy and how did I end up with him?" And then I smile because I know that I'm so lucky I did.