10 Years

10 years ago tomorrow, Travis pulled up in the Riverside parking lot, and I hurried down the steps of the dorm to meet him. We were about to go on our very first date. He had to be pressured by his friends into asking me out; I guess he thought I was going to say no. Little did he know that I’d been waiting for what seemed like forever for him to ask ;) I remember stressing over what I was going to wear, and none of my roommates were home that evening to give me their stamp of approval. He took me to Depalma’s, an Italian restaurant in downtown Tuscaloosa. I have no idea what we talked about, but I’m pretty sure he did most of the talking because I was so nervous. I think we may have even watched a movie at his apartment after dinner, but again, I was so nervous that I’m sure I couldn’t even pay attention and can’t tell you what the movie was. I think the evening must have gone pretty well anyway, despite my nervousness.

Fast forward a day or two, and the weekend after our first date, I invited several friends from Northwood (including Travis) to my parents’ lake house to spend a couple of days just hanging out and relaxing. Travis spent most of the weekend fishing with Andrew rather than hanging out with me; I guess things were a little awkward since we’d just had one date at that point. Anyway, when we got back to Tuscaloosa, I was in my dorm room, and Travis gave me a call. I think he was feeling bad that he didn’t spend too much time with me at the lake. If you know him well, he’s not the smoothest with words sometimes, so at the end of his apology, he said something to the effect of: “If you decide you don’t want to date me, just let me know, and if I decide I don’t want to date you anymore, I’ll let you know.” He hung up not too long after that, and I remember just shaking my head, confused. We still laugh about how smooth he was on the phone that night. Anyway, I guess neither of us ever decided we wanted to dump the other one, which I’m pretty glad about ;)

10 years ago seems like a different lifetime in some ways. We were technically still teenagers (crazy!)…we would both turn 20 later that year. Things were so simple. Of course, we had responsibilities like going to class, studying, etc., but we had plenty of time for hanging out with friends and having fun too. I’m not sure either of us thought about what our lives would look like in 10 years as we were sitting in the restaurant that night. 10 years down the road…we have two sweet little girls, a house of our own, good jobs, a few gray hairs (wonder why?!), and a lot less “free” time and energy, but so many good memories. I’m thankful for that first date and all of the ones that followed. He makes a really great husband and dad.