How our story began

It was September 2000.

No, wait. Let's start before that.

It was, uh, before September 2000. Peanut-lover was praying for a wife.

(Oh, except that he wasn't Peanut-lover yet, because there was no Peanut yet, so he was just himself.)

(Hmmmm... not that I didn't exist yet. I'm young, but not that young.... but... oh just keep reading!)

He'd been praying for a wife for about two years and God had given him a vision of what it would be like to meet me her. And it happened just like he'd seen:

It was September 2000. The first day back at school. Peanut-lover was walking through one of the buildings on campus, and he saw me. He tells me that he walked by several times, trying to get a good look at me, and maybe even my attention. I was too busy reading to notice him. What was I reading? Finding the Love of Your Life. I tell no lies.

That night, he announced to his friends that he'd found the woman he was going to marry. Of course, they wanted to know all about me. All he knew was that I was wearing an orange shirt. So, for a few days, I was "the girl in the orange shirt". When that got a little old, they named me Natasha (not my real name).

His friends told him that I probably had a boyfriend and to pay attention to my outfit the next time he saw me. If I wasn't dressed up, then I had a boyfriend. The next time he saw me, I was wearing track pants and a t-shirt, ponytail and running shoes. Yep. I had a boyfriend.

I first saw Peanut-lover a few days later at my church. Don't ask me anything about the service that day because all I could tell you is that a couple rows ahead of me was this tall, hot guy, in a bright red shirt, with shoulders and arms that I couldn't stop staring at.

For a few weeks, we saw each other around campus a few times. Once, we even sat at the same table, studying. I didn't say we were studying our books. But it still took a few weeks for Peanut-lover to get up the nerve to make his big move: he sent his friend Jen over to meet me. Before we knew it, the three of us were hanging out all the time.

Oh, right. The boyfriend problem. Well, Peanut-lover asked me about that. I informed him that the guy I was dating was just for fun. Oh, and then I pulled out a picture of the guy I was actually going to marry once he realized he couldn't live without me achieved some career goals. Confused? Yeah, so was Peanut-lover.

(I know, right? What can I say? I'm not proud of me, but having had my heart recently broken, and finding myself suddenly the object of a lot of male attention, I wasn't being particularly careful with the hearts that were being handed to me. Not proud, but it's accurate history.)

Well, it took him 3 months, but Peanut-lover finally won my heart. Although if he'd been paying attention, it might have taken him a little less time. (Yo, Peanut-lover: remember the night you came over to help me study? Did you notice the candles and romantic music? Yeah, well, I didn't really want to study. But, uh, thanks anyways.)

The jury is still out about who kissed who first. (I blame him. He blames me.) Regardless, the two kisses in question were just minutes apart and it was kind of assumed that we were a couple after that. That was December 2, 2000 and we have been inseparable ever since.

(Oh, and then he started calling me Peanut. I'd like to think it's because he thinks I'm cute and little... and not that I cause life-threatening allergies.)


More to come...