Tomorrow
marks a special day in my life as it is the anniversary of Eric and my
relationship - our dating anniversary. Eric and I haven't celebrated
this since we got married (since clearly a wedding anniversary date is
basically the mother-load of anniversaries), but we are celebrating
tomorrow because it is a significant one in our lives. Tomorrow marks
our 10 year dating anniversary. I've been with this guy for 10 years
straight! A DECADE of 'Eric and Jenna'. That's cray cray!
Eric and I met through a mutual friend in college,
Tyler. The first time meeting Eric is one of my favorite memories from
our relationship and one I will never forget. I was studying with Tyler
for an upcoming poli-sci test (jeez, I am so happy I never have to
repeat a class like that! Sorry, I digress.) when Eric came into the
room. I swear to you folks, my world stopped. There Eric stood in the
doorway wearing black sandals, black socks, black basketball shorts that
were a size too big, a black Roccori HS shirt that read the top ten
reasons that his high school basketball team should go to the State
tournament, and wearing his black backpack. My first thought was "Oh,
this guy needs so much [fashion] help!", then I saw his boy next door
face smiling at me. *sign* ...whoa, sorry...I was mentally back in that dorm room
all over again! Ok, focus Jenna. Tyler "conveniently" needed to go do
something and left us alone. Eric went over to his computer and put on
his HUGE headphones (which are actually size-wise popular again now,
Beats by Dre anyone?) to listen to music while I sat admiring him from
behind...*cough* I mean studying, of course. Eric eventually took off
his headphones and turned around to talk to me where we discovered that
his cousin was a friend of mine from high school and that I was invited to
his cousin and Eric's joint grad party that was at Eric's home (that I
couldn't go to because of a conflicting grad party and because it
was allll the way out in Cold Spring and at some kid that I didn't knows
home!), and that we at numerous times had been at the same place at the
same time. I believe with every ounce of my being that God had a plan
for Eric and I and that all of those times that we were at the same
place at the same time, we were not meant to meet yet. We were meant to
meet in college on that October night in the Winona State University
Prentiss-Lucas dorm. Funny thing is that I had gone into my freshman year of college swearing not get in a relationship and just have fun - guess God had a different plan and I'm glad that He did :)
It's strange to think that I met Eric when I was 18
and am now 28. The numbers make it look so much more significant, I think. Man, when the heck did I get old?!
Eric and I have grown in so many ways as individuals and as a
couple. Eric has been a continual source of support for me and I am
blessed to have him in my life. I'm 100% certain that he's my soul mate
(you had better have read that in a Kip from Napoleon Dynamite style
voice).
Here are some pictures from our journey the past 10 years: