the better 1/2

it is official... tony and i have been together for longer than we have lived apart. 

!!!corny-cheesy-lovey-dovey-sappy-post warning!!!

it was those long waits in his sister's mustang that brought us together.  those waits, english class and maybe a smidgen of fate. we became the best of friends, hung out at his house to watch movies and even went to prom.  he told my bff that he had given up on us dating because apparently flipping my well curled super red hair at regular intervals and spending every other minute with him was not enough of a clue to let him know i was interested too.  thankfully that same friend clued me in and one phone call later (not to mention tony delivering a cheesy one liner from top gun) and we have been together ever since.  i kept rehearsing in my mind that i needed to remember every single moment of that first kiss. 

if you knew us then you might remember that we both had a lot more hair.  (and darn it all...i can't find one picture of how ridiculous we looked!) we spent hours and hours riding his old blue thunder (ummm hey you, creepo- that is not a euphemism.  blue thunder was the name of his 1985 ford ranger). we spent his mcdonald's check at the movies nearly every weekend.  we talked for hours on the phone even though we lived next door to each other.  we endured helpful advice from friends and family when we ended up at different colleges and then at the same college (go cougs!), living apart and shacking up (sorry dad).  and it has all been better together.

it probably shouldn't have worked.  it is not perfect, and it won't ever be.  it isn't easy and if it was then how would we learn about ourselves?  i often feel like a hypocrite when i shake my head at my high school students who tell me how they have their lives all planned out with the love of their life that they have been with like forever, you know, since 11th grade.  when we are asked why it does work all i can think is that i am lucky enough to have married my best friend.  ok, it is more complicated than that...
we value the same things,
we are lucky to grow together,
we have a similar sense of humor,
we talk things out - even when it means someone has to apologize,
we are nice to each other,
we make certain to say why we appreciate each other,
we are an awesome team...
and we really like being together, you know? 

so, i think we will go for another 17 years...how about it tony?