A Decade of Valentine’s Days | Our Love Story

Happy Valentine’s Day!  I know I’ve mentioned before, but this is one of my favorite holidays.  Of course, I totally get that we shouldn’t need a special day to celebrate those we love, but since I love to celebrate the ones I love (and also wear pink) I’m all for a day specifically for showing a little extra love.

It’s also an extra fun Valentine’s Day around here.  Hubs first asked me to be his Valentine 10 years ago and we’ve been celebrating together ever since.

So, in celebration of a decade of Valentine’s Days and thanks to a little inspiration from my friends Alex and Bethany who each shared their own love stories earlier this week, I thought it would be fun to take a little trip down memory lane and share our story with you all today.  (I’ve shared a little of this before, but I’m sharing all the details today.)

I hope you’ll enjoy it, get to know us a little better, and get some kicks out of these baby pictures of us when we first started dating.  We’ve come a long way, y’all.

A Little Background

Hubs and I met at college and lived in the same dorm.  We were in the same circle of friends and started getting to know one another our sophomore year.  By “started getting to know one another”, I mean we would spend HOURS sitting together in the hallway of our dorm talking.  All of my friends were convinced that he like me because, “no guy would sit out in the hallway just to talk to a girl as much as y’all talk if he didn’t like her.”  I wasn’t totally convinced, but in the back of my head, I definitely had a crush.

Fast forward to second semester, I finally admitted to my friends (and myself) that I did in fact like Hubs.  My friends in turn told him and I spent the next week thoroughly embarrassed and avoided him.  It was awkward.

A Valentine’s Day Banquet

A few days later, all the girls on our hall got a really kind Facebook event to a “Valentine’s Day Banquet” that Hubs had planned.  Most of the girls on our hall were single (and almost our entire friend group lived on our hall at this time).  So the event was to “thank all of the girls for our friendship and to celebrate us on Valentine’s Day”.  The guys were going to serve lunch to us.

Hubs recruited a couple guys who dressed up in ties, put table cloths over a few tables in the cafeteria, printed menus of what was being served that day, and greeted all of us when we came in.  It was really over the top and tons of fun – especially since it was just in the cafeteria.  All of us girls got to come in, sit down, and let the boys go through the lines to get whatever food we wanted and refill our drinks.  In hindsight, we probably should have left a tip.

After lunch, I headed up to my room to do some last minute studying for a Labor Econ quiz I had that afternoon.  Just before I headed out, Hubs came up to my room and asked me to be his Valentine.  He gave me a paper heart he had cut out that just said simply, “Will you be my Valentine?”  Next, he asked if he could take me to dinner or a movie another time when I was free.  (He knew I already had plans to go out to dinner with the girls for Valentine’s Day.) It was perfect.

A Leap Year Anniversary

I ended up making a 20/100 on that Econ quiz.  I could not focus at all during the quiz.  All I could think about was how happy I was.  I still don’t remember what the quiz was on.  Fortunately, it counted for a tiny percentage of my final grade.

We went on our first official date a week later and he asked me to be his girlfriend on February 29, 2008.  (That seems crazy to type that out.  It was so long ago, and yet, not at the same time.)

We dated all throughout college and grad school until July 17, 2011 when Hubs planned a fun Sunday date for us.  We went to church and then back to Chapel Hill for lunch and to walk around campus.  I had no idea what was going on.

Our Engagement

As we were walking around campus, Hubs stopped me in my favorite spot overlooking the quad and asked if I knew what day it was.  I told him it was Sunday, but I didn’t know anything special about that day.  He told me that it was our 1,234th day of dating and sang the chorus of 1234 by Plain White Tees to me (“There’s only one thing t[w]o do, three words fo[u]r you – I love you.”) and then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.  I quickly responded “Yep, I will!” and that was that.

All the Rest

We were married 11 months later on one of the hottest days of the summer that year on June 30, 2012.  It was perfect.

And here we are – a decade of Valentine’s Days and almost 6 years of marriage and 2 kids later and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.  The past ten years have had their ups and downs, but there is no one else I’d rather be walking through life with.

We make a good team, Best.  <3

Happy Valentine’s Day, y’all!  Live life in love, my friends.