10 Years

10 years ago I married the man of my dreams.
In a little brick church, in a valley in the mountains.

I met my husband at work.
You see, my boss Renate, at the store where I worked, changed jobs to Wal-Mart of all places and she begged and pleaded with me to come work for her there.

I stood my ground and told her no way was I going to give up my relatively cool job with awesome discount perks to go work in the jewelry department at Wal-Mart!

She persisted and finally won me over with the prospect of health care, a bigger paycheck and really good looking guys in the next department.

Alas, I gave in....despite my better judgment.

On my very first day at my new job, my friend Justin was giving me a tour of all the departments. Directly across the aisle from my department was electronics.

Boy was Renate right. There were some seriously good looking guys in that department....this job may not be half bad!

I was introduced to them and this one tall blond and beautiful man stood out from the group. Justin informed me his name was "Stick."

Stick? Ok. Obviously a nickname and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out it had something to do with his 6'4" 165 lbs. body. He did resemble a stick quite a bit.
So a little time passes and I become friends with the electronics department boys. "Stick" is very flirty, amazingly smart, unbelievably handsome and super sweet to boot.

I had a serious crush.

Finally one day he asks me out to a movie. We had a large group of friends from work that we hung out with, and I half assumed they would be joining us. But when the time came it was just "Stick" and I.

I can still remember the butterflies in my stomach when I saw him standing there.

Our first date. We saw Contact. After the movie we went out to the marsh and watched Hale Bopp. Remember that comet?

So now lets fast forward a year. Same place. It's late at night because I had to close. It's pouring down rain. Stick, who I now call Chris picks me up from work. He packed a romantic picnic dinner of Taco Bell.

We park and eat our dinner. Finally he pulls a box out of his coat pocket and hands it to me.

"Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife" those were his words. I didn't even open the box and tears were streaming down my face as I screamed YES!!!!

Now, fast forward another year.

May 1, 1999. 6:30 PM on a Saturday. In a little brick church, in a valley in the mountains, by candlelight and with 350 witnesses I vowed to love him forever.

After we were married our lives drastically changed. He enlisted the Navy four months after our wedding.

We moved to Chicago for a year while he was in school. I got pregnant.

We moved to San Diego, California for four years. We had a baby.

We moved to Pullman, Washington for three years, for college. He was commissioned an officer in the Navy and accepted to the submarine program.

We moved to Charleston, South Carolina for a year and a half while he went through nuclear schools.

Finally we moved to Poulsbo, Washington and bought a home.

Through it all we grew stronger. Every hurdle he jumped, he did for us. Every day of hard work he put in, he did it for our little family.

Friday is our 10 year anniversary. And that man I said "I do" to is still the most handsome and wonderful man on Earth. He is my world. I am so grateful to have the honor of saying I am his Wife.

So today I am looking at the pictures of a gray Saturday evening. In a little brick church, in a valley in the mountains where I vowed to love him forever.

Happy Anniversary Chris. I love you forever.