The beginning of the beginning

You know what is kind of sad? I can never remember whether Jeff and I got married on August 10th or August 11th. I don't know why, I just have a really hard time remembering it. Every time I ask Jeff what day we got married he rolls his eyes.

I thought he was the one who was supposed to forget about our anniversary.

Well, no matter if it was the 10th or the 11th, our anniversary is coming up soon. And that simple fact has made me think about our marriage and our relationship. Which then made me think about how Jeff and I first met, and how we got to know each other. So, I thought I would share what I remember of the story with you, the readers of the interweb.

Once upon a time, I was in 7th grade. Ah, the magic of Keller Middle School--the gross pink, green and light purple color scheme, the three separate horseshoe hallways divided by grade, the 100 + pieces of gum stuck under the desks, my crazy science teacher who talked to the trashcan--those were the days.

Something important to realize about middle school is that your electives make all the difference in your life. They completely determine who you will hang out with at school, and who all of your friends are. At Keller, you basically had three different electives to choose from--band, orchestra, and choir. If you wanted to be cool, you chose choir (at least that's what I told myself since I chose choir, and since middle school is a time when everyone desperately tries to be cool).

BUT, to be a really cool person, you needed to be in the choir to end all choirs: Show Choir. Yes, this was the ultimate choir because you got to sing the modern, cool, belting songs. You got to swing dance. You got to have solo's. You got to wear sparkly vests and dresses!!

Yes, show choir was the choir to end all choirs. And what could be more amazing than a middle school show choir? A high school show choir, that's what. High schoolers were grown up, they were talented, and their show choir even got to put on a whole show at the end of the year that everyone who was anyone went to. Their choir was called Spectrum, and they were amazing. I mean, they did a zombie dance to Thriller...how much cooler can you get?

So I got my tickets and went to the show with my friends. We got there a little early, and found our seats in the middle section. We were giddy with excitement--the excitement of the show, and the excitement that we would someday be coming to that school for our own high school careers and that we could possibly be in Spectrum!

Ok, pause the story for a second. I really hope that I am not the only person who does this next thing that I will describe, because if I am, I will be really embarrassed. I asked Jeff about it one day, and he looked at me with a "you're insane, why did I ever marry you?" look. Maybe it is just a girl thing. Hopefully.

As the show started, I watched all of the performers sing and dance. I knew a few of them from church, some who I had gone to school with, and others who were strangers. But I noticed one boy who I had never seen before, but who I was completely drawn to. He was tall, had dark brown hair, and strikingly blue eyes. Once I noticed how amazingly good looking he was, I just could not keep my eyes off of him! I watched him through all of the songs, and began to fantasize about him. I thought of scenarios where he would glance down from the stage, look straight into my eyes, and smile at me. Or possibly he would sing one of those slow love songs, walk into the audience, and kneel down by my row and sing right to me.

As it turns out he did have a solo, and when he walked onto the stage with a guitar, a cowboy hat, and sunglasses, my heart melted. He was soooo cute!! He sang "Man on the Moon" by REM and as he sang I realized that it was my favorite song in the world and I couldn't believe that I didn't listen to it more than the occasional times that I heard it on the radio.

Later the show ended and so did my imaginary realtionship with Jeff. Little did I know that we would meet a couple of years later...

To be continued.