Ramblings of a Crowded Mind & Full Heart: Happy Birthday to My Best Friend

12.5 years (or so) ago I met this guy named David, he was my new bestie's friend and had come over to use her laundry or something because his bathroom at home was torn up. It was my freshman year of college, I was 19, he was 18, we were kids. It wasn't love at first sight, in fact, I was dating someone else at the time. It was 7 months later that we began to spend more time together, my relationship had ended several months before and neither of us (David & I, I mean) were looking to date anytime soon. It was when my bestie met her future husband and started spending so much time with him, sometimes forgetting about plans with us, that David and I got to talking more. One night, my bestie (Julia), myself, another friend and David all went to the drive-in. Sitting in the Blazer all together was the first time I was aware that I had been thinking about what a great guy David was and that I was almost holding my breath sitting there next to him. That night I was signed up to walk in the "Relay for Life" on campus from 1-2 in the morning. I didn't want to do it alone (ok I wouldn't have been alone, alone but I wanted someone to chat with). I offered for any of them to join me, secretly hoping only David would offer and he did. We walked and talked until 4 am that night and from that night, until the day I had to go home for the summer (roughly a month later) we spent every single day but one together. We talked and talked, went to spring events on campus, went to church together. Two weeks into our 30 day stint, he finally (well it felt like finally, summer was coming & I'd hoped he would ask before I left) asked if I would be his girlfriend, of course I said yes. The rest is pretty much history :). I went home that summer and we spent countless hours on the phone, it's how I feel in love with him, through talking. We were engaged after 10 months of dating, married by 13. I was a month shy of 21, he was 7 months shy of it.

The things that attracted me most to David back then were; his love of Jesus, his tender heart, his humor his laid-back demeanor, his passion for music, his integrity, the care he took in whatever he did..and more. Now 10 years after we got engaged (very nearly to the day!) he is 31. I still love him for all of those reasons and much more; for his incredible love for our children, his enduring love for me through some rough times, his complete adoption of my family, his love for our nieces & nephews plus countless cousin's kids, the way he gets down and plays pretend with our boys, the incredible sacrifice he made building us this beautiful home, his tender heart (I love his heart so I had to mention it again:), his generous nature....So, happy birthday to my best friend, my love, the father of my babies and my partner in life!