11 years ago today...

11 years ago today, I met a boy.  Not just any boy, but the boy that would steal my heart and change my life forever. 

11 years ago that boy walked into my work and my world.  I met that boy later at a movie, Road Trip to be exact.  I walked in wearing my cute overalls and a white shirt.  He was sitting on a bench in Gap jeans, a white button down shirt, brown boots and the sweetest smile.  His hair was short and the top was slightly combed to the side.  We sat through the movie laughing and making jokes with his friends.  It was during this movie that I got this feeling.  A feeling that this boy was different.  Little did I know.

11 years ago this boy and I went to Steak 'n Shake for dessert.  The Steak 'n Shake isn't there anymore, they even tore the building down; but it will always be there in my memory, in our story.  We shared a hot fudge brownie sundae and he had coffee.  We all talked and laughed and had a good time.

11 years ago a boy stood with me and his friends in the parking lot of a movie theatre.  It was a cool June evening, just cool enough that you would need a jacket.  The boy offered me his jacket and tucked inside were his car keys.  And then that boy asked for my phone number, and I asked for his.  Suddenly, 4 fire department issued pagers rang out from the hips of everyone but me.  It was a call, a big call.  A call for a garage on fire, fully involved.  This was huge.  I stood there still as stone and watched as this boy and his friends ran frantically to their cars.  He jumped in his friend's pick-up truck and she yelled out to me "he'll call you later!".  And they were gone.  I was alone. Alone in a movie theatre parking lot with a boy's jacket and his keys.  I imagined him driving the fire truck, fighting the fire, being a hero.  I drove myself home, took off his jacket, looked at his embroidered name on the breast.  Not knowing then that this boy and his name would be mine one day.  Just as his friend had told me, he did call.  We made a date for dinner, he needed his car keys back of course.

11 years ago it all started and it will continue for forever and always because of a boy and a girl and their love.