Today is my 12 year anniversary.  12 years.  That sounds like an eternity.  It is hard to believe how it has flown by.  Cary and I met when I was only fifteen, so we have actually been together for 17 years.  That is over half of my life.  I am 100% certain that I could not have been wise enough at that age to know what I had.  It was luck.  Pure dumb luck.  But, somehow I landed my perfect partner before I could even drive a car.

For those of you who don’t know the story….We met in downtown Nashville at a Beta Club convention.  There was a mixer for students from all of the local schools and we met there.  I honestly don’t remember being swept away at that point.  I was staying there with 4 girlfriends and he was there with 4 guys.  The story really began with a group meet up later.  As fate would have it, we were all staying at the same hotel, Days Inn (very swanky).  We were invited to come hang out in the guy's hotel room.  3 of us girls went to hang out for a while and proceeded to chat until the wee hours of the morning.  Something must have tipped off their teacher because he came tapping on the door at 2am.  We (the girls) ran into the hotel bathroom and hid in the shower while he was there.  We were terrified!  We were good girls!  This was bad!  We could see Mr. Larkin through the mirror from the tiny crack between the shower curtain and the wall.  I think we held our breath the entire time he was in there.  Somehow, we went undetected.  He left the room and taped the door shut from the outside to make sure the guys did not leave and that no visitors could get in (or out!)  We were stuck!  There was no way out!  There was only 1 thing to do.…we spent the night.  Cary and I spent the night together on the very first day we met.   4 people slept in 1 hotel double bed that night.  We were too innocent and wedged too tightly in that bed to do anything (if you know what I mean ; )), but we spent the night together none the less.   The next morning, we woke to the sound of tape being ripped from the door.  Again, we held our breath hoping Mr. Larkin was not coming in.  When he moved along, we quickly grabbed our things and scurried out of there, but not before exchanging numbers with the boys from McEwen. 

Cary was a little more straight laced than my usual interests.  If I am being honest, he looked a little dorky (I love you babe!) He had braces and glasses and he wore his hair swept over to the side.  The morning we left, he had on jeans and a white (dorky) Guess sweatshirt.  I was smitten.  I cannot explain it, but I was completely smitten. 

We dated for a full 5 years with only 2 short breakups…1 for 3 days, 1 for 6 months.  The 6 month break up was the test.  It was during my sophomore year in college.  My chance to see what else was out there before committing to this guy for life.  Of course you know where this story is going…we got back together and were quickly engaged after that.  We got engaged my junior year and married with 1 semester left in my senior year.  We were YOUNG!  We were POOR!  We were IN LOVE!!!  We went to Gatlinburg on our honeymoon and had to come home 2 days early because we ran out of money.  I have no idea what we were thinking, but we were HAPPY!  

We lived our first 3 years of marriage in my great-grandparents old farmhouse, built in 1937.  We rented it from my grandparents for $250 per month.  We were both in school and both working.  Cary worked nights as a nurse and I worked as a waitress.  I am proud to say, we made it on our own.  From the day we married, it was understood that we were responsible for ourselves.  To this day, we have worked for everything we have had and paid our own way.  Back then, we had a very tight budget.  Our blow fund (going out money) was $25 per month!  WHAT!  The house was OLD.  The winters were so cold that we could see our breath upon wakening in the mornings.   We paid $600 in November to fill the gas tank for the winter and it was empty by the end of December.  It was a COLD January and February.   We lived on Hamburger Helper and grandmother’s cooking since she was just a few miles away.  In the summer, we woke to the sound of these huge hornets that made their way through the window AC unit into our bedroom.  We drove an hour each way to our classes at Vanderbilt and shared one enormous desk top computer for writing all of our papers.  And the worst part, farmhouses have mice, lots of mice!  They were the worst of times and looking back they were the best!  I loathed that house until we started packing to move and then the tears could not be held back.  It was where all of our memories were.  I still look back so fondly on all of the hours we spent studying and quizzing each other, wrapped up in blankets on the rockers on the front porch.  I am getting a little nostalgic now….

We graduated and took our first jobs together in McMinnville, TN.  We moved to Murfreesboro and our income grew exponentially overnight.  Our first purchase was a Nissan Xterra that Cary still drives today.  (I am feeling a little bad about this as I am typing since I got the new Mercedes last year).  The job was awful but we gained much needed experience and took better jobs in Nashville 6 months later.  5 years into marriage we bought our first house in Franklin.  It was perfect!  At least it was perfect until we both took jobs in Murfreesboro.  We decided to move again and have been here since. 

We have had many adventures…..I am always full of ideas.  I always have a project lined up, a trip to be planned, a remodel, a puppy, a garden, a 1/2 marathon …. and on and on, and Cary is always by my side.  I once thought I could do some plumbing in the upstairs bathroom and flooded the ceiling downstairs so badly that the wallboard fell in.  I was soaking wet with mascara running down my cheeks from the water spraying me in the face.  Cary did not kill me.  He did not even scream.   We have completed grad school together, moved 4 times, changed jobs, flipped a house (successfully), opened a business (not so successfully), and most recently have built 2 houses within 1 year.  I am a total glutton for hard work and self torture and Cary is always always good for a go. 

Cary is the truest person I have ever known.  He is genuine and dependable and honest and caring and offers a constant stability and support that words cannot quantify.  He lets me do most everything, act most anyway and say most anything, but knows how to gently reel me back in when I have gone too far.  He is interesting and brilliant and humble and strong.  He is my guy : )  I love him and he loves me and that makes me the luckiest girl in the world!
               

We spent this weekend like most, at the cabin.  We just built a twin sized swinging bed on our screened porch and attempted to sleep in it last night in honor of our anniversary.  It was pretty chilly and reminiscent of the first night we spent together wedged in that tiny bed.  The twin bed is definitely better for napping!  The dogs started growling at something at around 4am so we moved inside and slept in this morning.  We went to Sunset Marina for a late breakfast and had a lazy day.  Every year we reflect on the highs and lows of our journey....all in all it has been amazing!