Today is my fiancé's birthday...the big 27. Little brat....here I am turning 29 in a few months and I've robbed the cradle with a younger man. I remember when we first started dating--- it took me MONTHS to finally give into my crush on him because I was so against dating someone younger than me... he's only a grade younger than me in school, but I was always dating older guys, chasing my brother's friends around and god forbid I'd stoop so low as to date a JUNIOR when I was a SENIOR....
Eventually he won me over with his humor and dark good looks.... hahaha. Seriously though, he took me out one night and I was actually just trying to get over a boyfriend I'd recently broken up with.... he made me laugh harder than I ever have in my life. I was intrigued... then a month or so later, he asked me to homecoming. Reluctantly I said yes... and it just happened that I fell in love with him the week of the dance.
There was a high school talent show during homecoming week. He and his friend Brett were signed up to perform an act called "Precision Aerial Grape Spectacular." Basically they had a routine where they did stunts that involved throwing grapes into each other's mouths.... sounds insanely stupid, but it was beyond hilarious and AWESOME to watch! When the song "Regulators" by Warren G came on and he and Brett got on that stage, the crowd went INSANE. I fell in love with Jon that night....it might have been his humor....his quirkiness....or maybe it was his confidence. But I was hooked. We kissed for the first time that night. And a few days later, we had a blast at our first of many high school dances together.
We dated for a year before I had to leave to go away to college at U of I in Champaign. Leaving him was honestly one of the worst days of my life. by then, I was completely head over heels for this guy. That first year we dated turned out to be one of my favorite of the 11 years we've spent together. I ended up spending a lot of weekends of my freshman year at college coming back to see him, coming to his football games and cherishing every second we spent together. I would so look forward to the weekends when I'd finally get to cuddle up to him again. I realized that year that this man would one day be my future husband.
The next year, he joined me at U of I and we had a million great memories there.
11 years later, we're engaged and getting married in 10 months. I CANNOT WAIT! I am so incredibly lucky. Sometimes I look at him and just can't believe how richly God has blessed me with this man. My parents prayed for my future husband from the time I was born-- that He'd give me the kind of man He wants for me... and God couldn't have been more right on. Jon is the most caring, loving, affectionate, sweet, funny, genuine person I've ever known. Most importantly, he loves me for me... I never, ever feel judged or feel like I have to be perfect....he loves my imperfections. And for someone like me who is the ultimate perfectionist, he's exactly what I need. He makes me laugh on a daily basis. He ALWAYS makes me feel loved. He tells me he loves me a million times a day, and that I'm beautiful 2 million times a day. What more can you ask for?
He's gonna be such a great husband and dad to our future kids. I can't wait to be able to wake up next to him every morning, make dinner with him, go to bed with him every night, holding hands under the covers while we pray together for our marriage and our babies. We can't wait to have our own family next year. May 26, 2013 will be the best day of my life and I know it will only get better, because it always has, everyday for the last 11 years.
Happy birthday baby! I love you so much!
