Seven Years and No Itch

Dave and I have been married for seven years. 

We are still in love.   

This weekend we had friends over and they asked us how we met...I've been reminiscing every since. 

We met during my sophomore year at college although Dave doesn't remember.  My friend Bob had invited me over to his dorm room to play Monopoly with a bunch of people.  Dave was one of those people.  It was the single most obnoxious game of Monopoly I've ever played - a bunch of business majors cutting deals with each other for the whole game ("If I give you Atlantic Ave, you have to give me 10% of your profits")  So annoying...And now Dave's a real estate agent and we still cannot play Monopoly without bickering.  In any case, I went back to my dorm room and wrote in my diary, "Dave Spence is an idiot".  And at the time I basically looked like a dork and lacked a lot of confidence, so he didn't even notice me. 

Two years later...my roommates and I wound up living in an on-campus apartment across the hall from Bob and Dave.  Dave and I had a class together and I sat two seats in front of him.  Initially, I still did not think particularly highly of him, but somehow his charm won me over and we became buddies.  At the time, I had my marriage blinders on and saw every guy as a potential husband.  But Dave was just my friend...the one I wanted to tell funny stories to, the one who I ran errands with just for fun.   And then one day we had that "Oh, I really like you" moment.

At first I wouldn't date him until he figured out his life, and then he moved to Boston to start a new job.  We "dated" long distance for a few months, then "broke up" only to start talking again right after graduation.  The Boston job didn't work out, so he came back to Winchester and we dated for a few months.  Dave broke up with me in September to get his spiritual life back on track with no distractions.  In October, I got my first teaching job and moved to Kennett Square, PA.  In November we started talking again and by December we were very randomly engaged.  And then October 18, 2003, we got married. 

So that's our story...we had a few rough years starting out, but thanks to mentors and God maturing us both, we stuck it out.  Last night, while on our anniversary date, we did a little annual review of where we are.  Here's where we are...we are friends, we love each other, we have great communication, we read each other well, we know when to give each other a break and help out.  I think we've both contributed to each other being refined - Dave has gotten more considerate, responsible and serving and I've gotten more outgoing and less confrontational.  We worried about what havoc kids would wreak on our marriage and guess what?  We think it's only gotten better since kids, if only because we made a concentrated effort to put our marriage before our kids.  I'm so thankful for my marriage and that it's surviving gracefully despite the grim statistics.  Here's to many more years together!!