how i met my valentine

Inspired by Tonya’s post, I decided to share the story of how I met my husband.

Damian and I grew up in the same small town, but somehow managed never to meet each other as kids. Well, at least not that either of us can remember. We even knew many of the same people, but never ended up in the same place at the same time. In fact, his grandmother’s favorite nurse at the nursing home was my mother! But, he is four years older than me, so he had already graduated from high school by the time I got there. We just kept missing each other, I guess…

…until we both got a job working at The Keene Sentinel, our local newspaper. I started working there in June of 2005, and he came along nine months later. I remember the day he started work. One of the secretaries came around introducing him to everyone. She got to my desk and, of course, couldn’t remember my name. I don’t think either of us made a huge impression on the other at the first meeting, but we both distinctly remember talking in the parking lot outside of work a few weeks later. There was a spark, but it wasn’t very big. One of the ad reps was always trying to find me a date, for some reason, and he at some point suggested Damian. I looked over at him in his little cubicle, and said, “That guy? Why would that guy have any interest in me?”

The first “portrait” of us ever taken, October 2006.

A match between us seemed fairly unlikely. We were both coming out of rather rough patches in our lives, and I don’t think either of us was really looking for a relationship. He had just moved back to town, and I was knee deep in single-parenting a toddler. But, over time we started to talk. And talk. And talk. Then we started going to the movies together. A lot. For some reason, though, I was convinced that he hated me and was just too nice to say no to my requests to hang out. It didn’t help that one night we saw some of his friends from high school and he introduced me as his “partner in crime at the Sentinel.” I was like, wait, I’m just your co-worker???

My boss always had really great Christmas parties every year, and Damian and I were both invited to his party in 2006. At this point, I had totally given up on having a romantic relationship with Damian. I was pretty sure he just wanted to be friends, so I just went about my night like it didn’t matter. At some point in the night, we were up on the third floor of my boss’s huge Victorian house, just sitting and chatting on the couch listening to Frank Sinatra play on the stereo. I was leaning my head on his shoulder, and I was pretty tired. Somehow we both ended up turning our heads toward each other and then it happened…we kissed each other! It was so spontaneous, and definitely not how I was expecting the night to end. It was just magical.

Photo taken at the party, December 2006.

On our first anniversary, Damian gave me a blank journal so that we could write back and forth to each other on special occasions, or just when we felt inspired.

Our first anniversary, December 2007.

On our third anniversary, he cut a hole in the book and put a diamond ring in it.

One of our engagement photos, May 2010.

A few days before our fourth anniversary we found out we were pregnant with our little boy, Zane.

What will future anniversaries hold? Only the future can tell us that. It’s life. And, I’m so thankful for the life and the love that I have.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!