March 26, 1988

Hubby and I have been together 20 year as of yesterday. Not MARRIED for 20 years, but together for 20 years. We began dating on March 26, 1988. Not that any of you really care (and some of you already know) but I need something to blog about, so here is our "story":

I started working at Highland DQ in May, 1987, which was the summer after my freshman year of college. I attended college 2 hours away from home (EIU), so this was only to be a summer job. Hubby already worked at DQ, as he had done since he turned 16. He was a senior in high school at the time, getting ready to graduate. We had known each other pretty much our entire lives, living in the same small town and going to the same schools. I knew he liked sports and he knew I did and I think that our mutual love of the St. Louis Cardinals was probably how our friendship began.

We worked together and got along well. We also got along with almost every other nightshift/weekend employee there. Hubby had a couple of friends who worked in Highland too at other eating establishments. We joked that they were "honorary DQ employees" because they would come in after we were closed and help us clean on many occasions. We were like a family that summer and did just about everything together. After we closed DQ, a bunch of us would go over to Pizza Hut and stay there until they closed at like 2am. This is where a lot of my weight came from!

In August, I headed back to EIU. That fall, I dated a guy from the Chicago area (yeah, I know.....what the he$$ was I thinking?). Hubby started his freshman year at SIUE and we remained friends. When I came home on weekends, sometimes I would work at DQ and I did so a lot over Christmas break that year. Once again, we had a great time together and with everyone else who worked there.

On Christmas eve that year, we got off work at 4pm and before we headed home to our families, several of us drove around Highland singing "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" in every drive-thru! Our boss had a small holiday party for us and after it was over, Hubby gave me a necklace with a heart and a pearl. I had known since Thanksgiving that he "liked" me but I couldn't decide if I liked him back or not. I kissed him over Thanksgiving break and I think again at Christmas break, but then in the new year, I wasn't as nice and sometimes when I came home on the weekend, I would kiss him, but sometimes I wouldn't let him come near me. I was mean. I just couldn't make up my mind (girls can be so indecisive!).

Finally, over spring break in March (Hubby had the same spring break week I did), he and I decided that on the Saturday at the end of break, we would attend a Blues hockey game together. We had gone to several other Blues games that fall and winter with friends and had loads of fun, but this would be the first one that we attended together, just the two of us. We had awesome seats, the closest I had ever been to the ice. We actually had seats that were one behind the other, instead of right next to each other. But they were good seats, so we didn't care. I remember that on the way there (after we ate dinner at York Steak House in St. Clair Square Mall), I was seriously sitting closer to his side of the car than my own. He drove a navy blue Thunderbird with the front seat that went all the way across, no console or bucket seats.

The Blues won the game. I have the ticket stubs at home. I can't remember who they played but I think the score was 3-2 in overtime. It was a great game. Afterwards, Hubby knew of 2 parties going on that we could attend. The first was in Troy at someone's house who I can't remember. It was an outside party and it was fairly cold. We didn't stay there very long. The next was in Marine and it was inside a house. There weren't nearly as many people there, only about 10 or so. I remember sitting on the couch talking to another girl and Hubby was sitting back against the couch next to me. All of a sudden, he leaned forward and just started kissing my neck. I was still talking to this girl and he kept kissing me. Finally I thought I better pay him some attention and began kissing him back. We went outside soon after that and before we drove home, we stood by the car and talked. I said something like "OK, let's try this and see what happens." And as they say.....the rest is history!

I seriously knew from that night on though that he would be the person I would someday marry. And he is my very best friend in the world. I think that because of our past, I believe that the best relationships begin as friendships.