A Decade

Kolby and I first started dating on October 31, 2000.  Also known as a decade ago.  10 years.

We were 15.

When my mom made me pick up all my leftover childhood stuff at their house before they moved a few months ago, I came across this collage:

The football ticket is from the game where Kolby and I sat on the handrail by the concession stand at halftime and told each other that we liked each other while sharing a bag of peanut M&Ms.  I can still remember so much about that night.  We went to a haunted house with some friends the next day and did some pretty heavy flirting.  I remember so much about that night as well.  Then I remember that we officially started "going out" (I wonder what the kids call it these days?!?!) on October 31-- Halloween.  Unfortunately neither of us can remember a single thing about how we got together that day, we just remember that was our anniversary for Kolby and Emily Part 1.

Kolby and Emily Part 1 didn't last too long.  I like to blame the fact that neither of us could drive at the time, which made for a pretty lame relationship.  Kolby was my first (and only) kiss.  I wasn't his.  I like to hold that over his head on occasion.  Anyway, that relationship ended shortly after the fateful broken ski pole incident on a youth group ski trip circa Christmas break 2000.  If you don't know that story then you are fresh out of luck because I don't have the energy to tell it again, but suffice it to say that the words "I hate you!" were yelled in sincerity by one of us (cough, Kolby) in a heated moment atop a double blue diamond ski run and the other one of us chose not to stand for such treatment, and may have used said event as a great excuse to end a relationship that was already headed south.

I finally got my braces off soon after we got back from skiing and was looking like a total hottie, causing Kolby to totally regret losing such a great catch.  Of course with my frizzy hair and the fact that the CHI was years away from hitting the market, I'm sure I didn't look nearly as good as I thought I did.  But isn't that what 9th grade is all about?

We spent the next several months as friends.  Here is a picture from youth camp in 2001, age 15:

That fall, Kolby asked me to our school's homecoming dance "as friends."
Homecoming 2001--- age 16:

You'll notice butterfly clips were a preferred hair choice for me at that time in my life.  Classy.

 I have a very clear memory of how uncomfortable Kolby was as we were taking this picture, with his hands on my waist and my dad watching.  :)  And yes, we were rather awkward and gangly.

It was later that night that Kolby kissed me on my front porch after he walked me to the door.  Then a few weeks passed with neither of us having the guts to talk about it.

On October 26, 2001 we were hanging out at Kolby's house watching Rush Hour 2 when the conversation finally went down.  It was Kolby and Emily Part 2, and it was official.

We even survived the youth ski trip that year:

It was Valentine's Day 2002 that I told Kolby that I loved him.  He said the same.  We were 16 so I know that sounds crazy, but what can I say?  Maybe it was a different kind of love than we have now, but I can't really say that I think we were crazy for feeling like we loved each other then, given how everything panned out.  Here we are on that night (again with the butterfly clips, sheesh!):

Even though we were the same age, I was a sophomore and Kolby was a junior at that point.  We finished out high school with some great times together:

Some of my favorite high school memories are from homecoming and prom Kolby's senior year (age 17):

We were having such a great time together--- completely happy--- then Kolby had to go off and graduate and kill all of our fun.

We both turned 18 the following summer and we decided to give the whole long-distance thing a go when Kolby left for Wheaton (a thousand miles away!)in late August.  It was miserable, but I was having a great senior year with my friends and Kolby was loving college.  I think I blocked out of my memory a lot of our relationship from that year.  Kolby flew back and surprised me for Valentine's Day, and that's about all I can recall.  I think I also got in trouble from my parents a lot for staying on the phone too late.  We learned a lot about each other and about how to communicate, which is something I'm still grateful for.

It didn't take long for us to realize that it probably didn't make sense for us to keep the long-distance relationship going for 4 whole years, given how hard it was on both of us that first year alone.  If it was "meant to be," it could happen later on in life when it wasn't so difficult.  Unfortunately, we came to this conclusion in May, and we would both be around all summer.  So we made the super mature decision to postpone the breakup until August-- we were in love and why shouldn't we enjoy those last months together?!?

Then came what we affectionately refer to as Snot Fest 2k4.  We were 19, and were breaking up for reasons that had nothing to do with the way we felt about each other. At that point in my life I would not say that I was an emotional person, but I cried so hard the snot just poured out (TMI?).  So did Kolby.  It was a rough evening.

We spent the next 6+ months barely communicating, save one or two phone calls to say hey and a hangout with friends at Christmas break.  I don't really remember how it came about, but I decided to visit Kolby at Wheaton the next spring.  We had each had been on a few dates (Kolby more so than me, also something I like to hold over his head) but nothing stuck.  That weekend visit was the first time we'd spent time together since Snot Fest 2k4, and it was amazing.  We loved each other, but we were still 2 years away from living in the same state again, so we entered this no-man's land where we were in love but not dating.

Flash forward to July 4, 2005.  Kolby had just recovered from the most horrible jaw reconstruction surgery of all time.  We were in my bedroom (at my parents' house) sitting on the floor playing Duck Hunt on my old school Nintendo.  We kissed.  It was our third first kiss.  And so began Kolby and Emily Part 3.

The third time's a charm!

If you had told me when we first got together 10 years ago that we'd be unbelievably happily married and falling asleep every night hand-in-hand in our first house together, I would have called you crazy.  But our story is one of my favorite things about us, and I feel so blessed to be on such a great journey!

[End of sappy, nostalgic, LONG story. Is anyone even still reading?]