year 3 tomorrow

Tomorrow is our 3 year wedding anniversary...

Many people say they married their best friend...but I actually did marry my best friend, although I could not picture myself with him at first. This was mostly because he was the biggest flirt I had ever met. Not only that but he was Joel, my good friend Joel and ever since the first weekend of our freshman year of college. We had the same major so we had to take many of the same classes together. In one of our first psychology classes Prof. Kidwell said it was a proven fact that the more time you spend with a person the more likely they are to have an attraction to you, Joel then leaned over and said, "we are taking the same classes from now on!" I honestly don't think he had any feelings for me at that point, he was just that big of a flirt.

It wasn't really until our sophomore year that I started questioning if Joel liked me or if I could even see myself with him. Due to the amount of time we were spending together many of our friends started asking us separately how we felt about each other, which made me feel wierd. I couldn't imagine losing Joel as my friend if he didn't feel the same way for me. During college I was finding out who I was and through that many friends would come and go, but Joel demanded we remain friends. He was quickly becoming one, if not my closest guy friend. I remember telling my mom about different guys at school that I may or may not have had crushes on at the time and casually brought Joel up, but only speaking about him as a friend. My mom's response was, "I wish I had a Joel in my life!" There was something so different about him, something I knew I didn't want to live without...

Second semester of our sophomore year Joel and I were headed to the coffee shop on campus and ran into a mutual friend of ours. She, without thinking asked us if we were dating yet! Who says that? No one had EVER brought THAT up to us while we were together so we never had to address it before that moment. We awkwardly ignored the topic altogether and proceeded to the coffee shop. I didn't think I was ready to discuss "US" yet so I kept thinking, "don't bring it up, maybe he's not going to bring it up." Then he looked up from his computer after some shallow conversation and awkward silence to say, "I like you and I think you like me too so we should go out." He pretty much said it as quickly as you probably read that line too. Our first date was Valentine's Day and he, without thinking let me pick the movie we were going to see. I didn't watch much TV that year so I hadn't heard about what was showing so I picked the one that I had at least heard of in passing, Hotel Rwanda. I chose a movie about African genocide for our first date on Valentine's Day! I had no clue. There were at least other people in the theater that night but it was definitely not the picturesque first date you dream of.

We have had our ups and downs over the years but I cannot imagine being with a more supportive, fun, genuine person than my husband Joel. He has been my best friend for the past 5 years now and my husband as well for the past 3. I look forward to what God has in store for our future together and pray that we only grow closer to Him and each other as time goes on. I love you Joel, happy anniversary and thank you for choosing to be by my side and loving me even when I haven't been the easiest person to love!