It was 6 years ago today…

…that Jay and I made it ‘official’… we started dating, but our story starts before that. At least my ‘part’ of it does.

I don’t think I have ever told the ‘story’ of how Jay and I ended up together, so sit back, relax, and take a stroll down memory lane with me.

It all started back when I was a sophomore in high school. My graduating class was not very big… only about 100 students. Well at least I don’t count that as very big. The high school here in Point has probably over 500 students per class, but it is the only public high school in Point.

Anyways, during my sophomore year I volunteered to be a wrestling manager with my best friend. She had been one the year before and said it was a lot of fun. I mean what isn’t fun about guys in tight singlets, haha! Anyways, I didn’t know much about wrestling, but thought it would look good on college applications since I wasn’t in sports or really any other organization.

So… I became a wrestling manager and grew to know some of the guys on the team. Know them by sight anyways. We definitely had fun watching them practice! Haha! Anyways, that year my friend had a crush on Jay and even went so far as to ask him out. Unfortunately for her, he said no. It wasn’t until towards the end of that year that my crush on Jay started to develop. And at that point it wasn’t a full on crush, but he was some good eye candy.

Going into my junior year and throughout that year I was involved on and off with another guy who did not go to our school. However, that year I was not only a wrestling manager, but also a football manager. That meant more time for me to stare at Jay, hehe! Like he didn’t know! Even though I was sort of seeing someone else, I coveted any time I ‘spent’ with Jay at school, whether it be a same class or after school at the sports practice. And I say ‘spent’ because at that point it was a just in the same room sort of thing. Or you know that high school flirting kind of stuff. I’d pretty much bend over backwards for that guy.

During my junior year, I found out that Jay liked a different friend of mine and had asked her out. Unfortunately for him this time, she said no. I was secretly super happy she said no. He claims he also liked me at this time, but I don’t know if that's necessarily completely true or not. We definitely flirted enough that year, but nothing happened.

Oh wait, I forgot something! It was also in the spring of my junior year that my cousin asked me to stand up in her wedding. It just so happened that the guy she was marrying was Jay’s cousin! And it just so happened that her fiancé had asked Jay to stand up in their wedding as well! And it just so happened that Jay and I would be standing up together! Seriously… who could imagine?!

I remember when I found out the news that we would be standing up in the wedding together… it was like fate, okay maybe not, but totally cool to a smitten 16 year old! Ah, where would we be if it weren’t for Amanda and Shaun, hehe!

Anyways…fast forward to the beginning of my senior year. Once again, I was a football manager. So one Thursday night, like maybe a week or so into the school year, at the weekly football supper, I was getting ready to leave. I had just gotten a new car (well used, but new to me) and somehow Jay ended up in the driver’s seat wanting to test drive it. Like it was so hard to convince a girl that you know likes you into letting you drive her car. And wouldn’t you know, probably not even fifteen minutes later we end up smashing into a tree and totaling my new car. A new car that I had maybe a month, if that.

Yeah, I know, right? What a perfect what to start a relationship, crash the car of the girl you like into a tree! Things could very well have ended there, but they didn’t. At first I didn’t think things were going to go anywhere. Way to go, lost my chance with Jay and then have to stand up in a wedding with him yet. But they didn’t stop right there.

Later that next week he came over to my dad’s house a couple of nights and like maybe a week later we made if ‘official’ (because you know in high school you have to actually ask the person out) and started dating. He wanted to wait until his birthday to ‘ask me out’ so he would never forget our anniversary. Ha, like I was going to let that happen….

And now six years later… here we are!

I do know that without Ayden, our relationship probably would not have lasted. He would most likely have gone to Northern Michigan University, and me to Madison or Point. If we would have lasted through our senior year, the distance college would have brought, most likely would have tore us apart. That, and well we both would have been exposed to so many other people. Now, I can’t say with all certainty that we wouldn’t have lasted, I can only speculate.

But it doesn’t pay to speculate on the past because we cannot redo it. And I firmly believe that this the path that was handed to me. It may not be a straight and narrow course, but then again, whose really is? We are all handed different challenges in life and Jay and I were able to make it through together so far!

I’ll be the first to point out that our relationship has been far from perfect, but it is great in its own way. I can’t wait to see what the next six years bring and the six years after that! It definitely doesn’t seem like six years have gone by since we first started dating… they just fly by. But in the same respect, I can also say that it doesn’t seem like five years ago that Ayden was born. I think I have a harder time believing that Jay and I have been together for six years than believing that Ayden is five years old already. Weird, I know… but that is me!

In any case… we had an unconventional start… what with the whole crashing into a tree thing and then getting pregnant our senior year of high school, but it only adds to the story of our love I guess. I know that many many guys would not have stuck around like he did and been such a man about it. He’s been there for me through thick and thin… and neither of us is letting go anytime soon!

Alas, take a trip through the years with me (please excuse the poor quality of some of the pictures as I was taking pictures of pictures and that doesn’t always turn out very well)… enjoy!

              

LOVE YOU BABE!!!

CIAO! LOVE ME!