Just the "3" of Us: 10 years ago...

I met him the weekend before Cinco de Mayo at a club. The Spy Club (lol) has since been demolished – after serving its purpose. Back then, I contemplated saving a brick or something but thought it might have been an overkill. After all, I didn’t know how long me and this guy were going to last…

The following week was Mother’s Day and he wasn’t invited to come to our celebratory dinner. So as soon as we got home that night, off to his apartment I went. A few days later, we agreed. We were in love. Gas was 98 cents a gallon that summer and you couldn’t squeeze a dime between us.

It wasn’t easy being a couple of 19- and 21-year-olds in love. Even though God put us in each other’s path, clearly he wasn’t done with us yet. We had growing pains galore and like many young couples took our turn in the long line for the roller coaster ride of insecurity, doubt, emotion and peer pressure. But God had his hand on our relationship and unlike many young couples, we surrendered to the work he was trying to do in our lives and grew.

“Life is mandatory. Growth is optional.”

I love the woman that Damion commanded me to become and would not have been anywhere else in the world but where God placed me to stand for the man that I would marry one day. Some days, I feel like the last 10 years was already written and we just had to participate. But like our pastor once said, we have everything to do with our destiny. And even though as young as we were, we didn’t have a clue as to what to do with each other, we just knew that both of us were willing to find out.

We decided to keep our initial anniversary date even when we got married so we could celebrate an anniversary from the context of life before kids and then use our wedding anniversary to celebrate our sacrament. We didn’t exchange flowers today, no cards, and no dinner planned. But God woke us up, gave us both jobs to travel to and a beautiful son to take care of. And after I dropped our son off at school this morning, I gave thanks for the wonderful man in my life that was without a doubt – made, chosen, and saved – for me.

A lifetime together sounds poetic and all, but, you never truly comprehend, let alone appreciate, what that entails. One of my favorite movies depicts the process as having a “witness” to your life – to care about anything – the sad, the happy, and the mundane. I like that. I tease my husband all the time about how I turned his world upside down and how I’m such a great catch and even the answer to his grandma’s prayers. I often remind him of how lucky he is and that despite the roundtrips to hell he takes with me nearly once a month like clockwork (come on ladies, admit it… ), he should be grateful that I put up with him. But if he only knew.

All I can say, my Love, is thank you. For adding a deep end to my soul.

I love you.

Happy 10 Year Anniversary!

In the spirit of it all, I read the following story about how we met today and copied it for all to read from our wedding web site we created a few years ago. Enjoy!

For the most part, we agree on how we met. No one ever thinks they will meet their future husband/wife at a night club and we certainly don't brag about it. But maybe that is the magic of it all - we weren't "looking" for love that night, just a good time to be had with our friends.

The night we met wasn't our "usual" night at the club. I convinced my partner in crime, Javon, to go to the club on an off night, reassuring her that we would still have fun and that there would still be cute guys there. Somewhere across town, Damion's friends were attempting to do the same. Not wanting to be around anyone that night, Damion finally gave into the peer pressure and they all assembled to go out.

Walking into the club was the same as usual - scanning the room to see who was there (and more importantly, who wasn't) and making somewhat sure that you didn't just waste a cover charge. On the dance floor is where we ultimately found each other. Everyone that knows Damion, knows that dancing is second nature to him - quick to show off, his moves finally caught the attention of the right person. We both recall dancing with other people at the time we saw each other for the first time. Coming off the dance floor, I glanced over and saw Damion dancing wildly with another girl. I thought it was cute, told him, "don't hurt nobody" and walked off. It wasn't until later that night that we would find each other again and spark a conversation. We agreed to dance together and for the rest of the night, it felt like we were the only two people in the club.

After spending almost all night together, I gave Damion my stuff to hold and asked him to wait for me while I searched the club for Javon. Without hesitation, Damion agreed to wait. Overlooking the dance floor from an upper level, I simply watched. He turned away several interested young ladies and waited as he promised he would. It wasn't until years later that I told him what I was really doing which was testing him.

When it came time to exchange names and phone numbers I whole-heartedly gave Damion my REAL name and DIRECT phone number to my dorm room. Damion on the other hand, told me his name was “Krysjun” (pronounced “Christian) and gave me his pager number. Awkwardly enough, he allowed me to call him by this name for several days until he revealed his true name. Unfortunately, by this time, I had affectionately came to know him as Christian and shared this name with her family. And so the name stuck. Going back the SMU dorms that night, Javon turns to me and said "you know you met your soul mate, right?" I smiled and even laughed it off.