Happy Anniversary, Baby! Got you on my..mind!

Okay, a singer I'm not. Sue me.

But today IS mine and Jeff's wedding anniversary. We have been married for 19 years!!! I can't believe it myself and neither can anyone else. But we have actually been "together" for 25 years and 1 month! Saying that makes me feel ancient.

But we met in High School, on the band bus for the love of Pete. He was a friend of my cousin's and me and my bff at the time sat in front of them and we all got to talking and we both had mutual instant crushes. It would be another year before we would consider ourselves "in love" and even then, at the ripe old ages of 14 & 15, everyone thought we were nuts. "It'll never last," and the odds were in their favor, for sure. We were SO young and so....clueless!





Get a load of that first picture, would ya? Wasn't I a dish! LOL

We dated off and on all through High School. He graduated a year ahead of me and we lost touch for a little while. But he still had my heart, no matter what I did, who I was with or how much I tried to "move on" and "get over it".

A few months after I graduated and I thought I was finally moving on, my bff's first love was killed in a car crash. As naive and goofy as it sounds, I started to think about Jeff again and much to my mother's disapproval, I called him. We started dating again, though it was not "serious", supposedly. Just some carefree young adults, having a good time.



Oh, who I wouldn't kill to know what I know now and still have those thighs! I'm sure they're under here somewhere!

But eventually, God began to do a work in both our hearts and we became engaged in June, 1989.



Yeah, everyone thought we were nuts. I was 19, he was 20. We were SO young and everyone told us to wait. It'll never last, they said, you don't know what love is, blah blah blah. My own mother tried to get us to just live together, if you can imagine! But because we were so young and knew everything (why couldn't all of life's problems have come then, when we knew all the answers!?) we were married in November, 1989.






Nineteen years and three wonderful children later, here we are. Against all odds. It hasn't been easy. But it has been worth it.

We haven't really begun to celebrate yet. Jeff did bring me breakfast in bed this morning and the kids made us dinner and cleaned up. But we will do something special this weekend when we aren't so busy with all the details of everyday life.

And my mom, I think is more surprised than even we are but I believe that she is amazed and proud also. Proud that we proved people (even her) wrong with our commitment to each other. She drove all the way out to my house today while we were gone and hung a banner over the door that her daycare kids made. It said, "To heck with Voting Day--Happy Anniversary!" All the kids had colored on it! I'd show you a picture but the camera batteries are charging for tomorrow!

She also left a card that said:

A Marriage is made of a number of things...

Enjoying the same little day-to-day things, Staying together whatever life brings, Sharing the dreams of your future together, this is the love that you'll cherish forever.

How fitting! But what touched me even more was the personal note on the inside that said:

Chel & Jeff,

No one said it would be easy but just look at your three great kids. That's what we do! The small stuff doesn't matter so much! Love, Mom

I'm tearing up now just thinking about it. To have the admiration of the woman that told me I was nuts for getting married at 19 (and how many times over the years I've thought that she might have been right!) is just overwhelming. I love you, too, Mom! Thanks to you and Dad both for giving us such an amazing example!

Do we love each other the same as we did November 4, 1989? No. And anyone who says they do is lying. It's not possible. I'm still crazy about him, just like when we were kids. But God has taken what was there and made it into so much more than we ever could have imagined. Life may never be perfect this side of Heaven. But true, honest, mature love definitely can be.

I love you, babe!