Happy Anniversary, Jennifer!!

Today my wife & I are celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary. It's hard to imagine that we've been together for 11 years and how quickly it's gone by...until you stop to think that we've actually been a couple since March 25, 1987!!

And no...we didn't have any time apart either. This March, it'll have been 20 years that I've been with this woman. That's over half of my life but I must admit...it's been an incredible 20 years.

I can remember the first time I saw her... I was a new kid on the block as my family & I had just moved to Mountain Home AR for my dad's new job. He was going to be hired as the new school superintendent and it meant that I was having to leave all my friends and start all over, right before my senior year. Ugh.

To consider leaving the suburbs of Chicago for the "who-knows-what" of Arkansas was almost more than I could bear. Needless to say, I wasn't too happy about it and let my parents know about it pretty clearly. My dad was school superintendent up where we lived (in Northern Illinois) and one of his board members tried to comfort me by saying "you know Jim, I bet when you move to Arkansas, you'll find the girl you end up marrying."

Yeah right, I thought to myself. I'm not finding anything in Arkansas except my high school diploma, a set of car keys, my stuff and the nearest interstate back up to Illinois for college with my friends.

I could've not been more wrong. Not only did I start my "career" in radio there in Mountain Home, I also met Jennifer and Mr. Hampel was right...I did end up marrying her. I was on the football team and didn't get much if any time on the field. That's part of the good ol' boy political system that goes on at any high school but I'll leave that for me and my therapist to discect. LOL

Anyway, one day one of the younger football guys was strutting down the hallway with this girl that made my tummy quiver and my mouth drop ever so slightly.

She was tall, slender, poised, SMART (that always helped when I told my folks about my girlfriends), well thought of by the teachers and absolutely, positively "knock me in the face silly" drop dead gorgeous!! She had big, soft brown eyes that seemed to melt anything they gazed on and a smile that left an indelible mark on my heart. "Oh Jim" I said to myself..."get it together. She's already dating someone so move on."

As difficult as it was, I tried to forget about her. But each time Ricky came waltzing down the hall or the lockerroom door, there was Jennifer. She was also a cheerleader so that meant (guess what) I'd be seeing her a lot on the sidelines as I grabbed my usual amount of pine (that means I was getting a lot of bench time). Not a bad trade-off for me all of a sudden.

A few weeks after football season mercifully ended, I got the news that Jennifer & Ricky had broken up. Yeeeee-haaawww! See, I could say that now 'cause I's an Ar-cane-zun.

My "love life" was not all that good. I'd dated about 3-4 girls but nothing ever really seemed like it was serious or that there was this "connection". But with Jennifer now available, I knew I had to try to ask her out. But how?

God saw ahead in time and knew we'd be together so He didn't bring us together immediately but He DID put me in class with Jennifer's sister, Kristin.

Note: It has only been revealed within the past year or so that I had a crush on Krisitn during Jennifer's tenure with Ricky but I never pursued Kris because she was already involved with Dave, the guy she'd end up marrying as well. However, my sister, kids and Kris like to tease me about this brief "crush" but I don't know how and if Dave feels about it. LOL

So, I began to drop subtle hints to Kris about Jennifer. Did she think Jen would go out with me? Was she a nice girl? Did she (Kris) think I was a good guy to ask out her sister? Stuff like that... Jennifer then ended up eating lunch with Kristin, me and a bunch of Kris' friends. That was always a treat for me. Then, oh man...Jennifer walked into my study hall one day for good and I knew my prayers had been answered. I began to do all the things senior boys do to let young girls know they're interested. Stuff like telling dumb jokes, passing notes and playing paper football while the teacher wasn't looking. You know, real intellectual stuff.

Finally, the date came when we were going out on our first date...my 18th birthday. Yet, it almost ended before it even started.

Jennifer lived way out of town down a county road barely covered with chat. Me, being the young, brash 18 year old kid, I thought I knew how to navigate sharp curves and loose gravel. Wrong. I was driving way too fast as we approaced this hairpin curve and Jennifer had just mentioned softly that I may want to slow down...but it was too late.

My car slid off the road but stopped short of the ditch. Embarrassment set in and my ego was bruised but the image that's been burned into my mind is the one of a beautiful girl grasping for something to hold onto as my car began to careen toward certain doom. Thankfully, the remainder of the date went off without a hitch and I not only got a "yes" for a second date but a good night kiss. Jennifer later confessed it was her first time she'd ever let a guy kiss her on their first date. YES!!

A few days later, I said I'd like for us to go steady and gave her my class ring.

Why do I suddenly have images of Fonzie about to jump a bunch of trucks in Al's parking lot and the girls swooning over him? LOL

She took my ring and wrapped it up with blue fuzzy thread (one of Mtn Home's colors) and wore it with pride. I graduated high school in 1987 and went off to college at Arkansas State in Jonesboro, 2 hours from Mtn Home. Jennifer was going to be a junior so she was staying in school for 2 more years and that meant we'd start what would become a rather long "long distance relationship".

She graduated high school in '89 and went to the U of A in Fayetteville, 6 hours away on the other side of the state. We dated like that until the end of my junior year in college when I decided to transfer to the U of A and be with her. I was getting a degree in broadcast journalism and even though Arkansas had a decent program, it wasn't nearly as good as ASU's. But I didn't care. It was LOVE that was calling me, not a journalism degree.

OK...again, I'm hearing music and seeing me on top of the Alps as I sing that last sentence in an emotional outpouring of amore for mi esposa. I must have low blood sugar or something.

1992 arrives and I graduated college with my degree in journalism and literally 3 days after the graduation ceremony, I was working overnights at a brand new radio station. Jennifer was going to be a senior so we'd have at least one year together before she left for medical school in Little Rock. We'd discussed marriage off & on like puppy-lovers do but it began to get more serious. We had planned on her going to med school and getting a few years into it before we got married. However, the stresses of being apart 3+ hours (for me at least) and the temptations that come to single guys in radio began to take it's toll on me and our relationship.

Finally, I got some common sense knocked into me (not literally though) and I realized there was no time like the present to get married. So, I began to plan on how I'd propose to Jennifer and the answer became obvious.

I'd do it on the air.

And that's just what I did. Look down a few pages and you'll see my blog on how I asked her to marry me (like the caveman I am).

But in all seriousness, as I reflect on today and how special it is to me, I want her to know that I love her with all my heart and she is so much more than I'd ever hoped for in a wife. She has shown me kindness, patience, grace, beauty and never-ending love. She has become my best friend, my lover, my wife, my confidant and my soul mate. She is the mother of my children and the woman I am so excited to call my wife.

Sweetie, I love you so much more than mere words and flowers can express. I hope you know this and how grateful I am that over 11 years ago, you said "yes" to being my wife. I cannot wait to see what the next 11 years hold for us because I know God has a plan. I love the words in Jeremiah 29:11 that talk about how He knows the plans He has for us that will give us a future and a hope. My hope is to spend that future with you, doing all that He has called us to do and be for each other, our kids, our family and those around us.

I love you Jennifer and will do so...

Forever.