Chris and I had been dating for awhile when we attended our friends, Jen and Andrew's, wedding. We hadn't been through the summer of 10 weddings so they still felt pretty special and awesome at that time. (Not that, individually, each of the 10 weddings in 2008 wasn't awesome --- but collectively they were a bit much).
The reception was in the local VFW hall. I remember as they took the dance floor for the first time, the song, "The Luckiest" popped on. My eyes grew wide as I watched them. Dang. I wanted that to be mine and Chris's song someday. First dance songs are like baby names for me- you can't "steal" your friends' song. Especially when they got married first.
In the end, Chris and I danced to a song from the Serendipity movie soundtrack called "When You Know" by Shawn Colvin. It was perfect for us. That movie has a lot of significance. We've always felt it was pretty serendipitous the way we started dating. But that's another story.
Regardless- I've always liked that song - The Luckiest - because I do feel like I'm the luckiest to get to be with Chris. He really is a wonderful person, an excellent husband.
I was thinking tonight about all of the things we have done in the nearly eight years we've been together. We started dating when I was 18 and he was 22. Now we're 26 and 30. It feel so blessed and lucky that we've been able to have so much time together. We've really grown, both as people, and as a couple.
So we don't forget these first 8 years, I wanted to make a list of some things we have done. It's certainly not complete.
- Got married!
- Made lots of messes in the kitchen.
- Baked anise seed cookies nearly every Christmas. Man those are a lot of work!
- Picked every type of fruit you can think of that grows in Missouri (OK, not grapes. Not yet, anyway).
- Lived an ocean apart for four months. I was in London, he was in Missouri.
- Had a long-distance relationship, except for the summers, for four years. Chris lived in St. Louis and I attended Truman State in Kirksville.
- Traveled to Berlin, Prague, Munich and Salzburg, where we watched the "B" list performers at the Sound of Music dinner theater along with new Irish friends Keira and Donald (although his accent was so thick, I thought he said his name was Dole). We saw some castles, learned some history and tried to converse in German. Drank a LOT of beer.
- Wandered around Las Vegas twice. Wandered around Chicago several times.
- Visited Playa Del Carmen in Mexico, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Cocoa Beach, Panama City Beach, Toronto, Chapel Hill, NC.
- Adopted a kitten
- Worked at a movie theater at the same time.
- Saw more than 20 shows at The Muny.
- Had 5th row seats to Pearl Jam concert. Saw John Mayer, Shawn Colvin, Diana Krall, Erin Bode, Jewel and more in concert.
- Attended at least 20 weddings of friends and family
- Bought a new car together.
- Went through one broken thumb and one broken toe. ouch.
- Painted lots of rooms.
- Built a deck.
- Walked to FroYo many times. We live so close we aren't allowed to drive there. It's too good. Only walking allowed.
- Ran a few 5k races together.
- Learned what the other person's essential items are that they need from Trader Joe's each week (Chris: deli turkey meat, bread, milk, yogurt, bananas. Kalen: Fizzy flavored water, cereal).
- Became an aunt and an uncle! yay Luca!
- Went for long walks under the stars.
- Camped (once in very, very cold weather)
- Built a bed and a bench and deck furniture ourselves.
- Invented a million inside jokes. Shoot I need to write all of those down too.
