happy 7th

Wow. I can't believe it's January 7th, 2009!

It's an anniversary for my wife Crystal and I. Not like our wedding anniversary that I wrote about here. But the anniversary of when we started dating.

I really can still vividly remember January 7th, 2000... right after Y2K & the new milennium had just begun - my wife and I started dating. That was a LONG time ago (to us it feels like). We were both Juniors in High School! Our 1st date was at Applebee's (how romantic). The one on Independence near the corner of Sam Newell Road (in case you are familiar with Charlotte). [in fact, I remember not wanting to go the whole route of "asking her out" like in middle school... so I just kissed her. I know, BOLD right? that's how i roll... (jk/ haha)]

So today is our 9 year anniversary! 9 years we've been together! WOW!

But, God started hooking Crystal and I up long before January 7th, 2000. It's a story my mom really enjoys telling, but I'm going to tell it for you today. Crystal and her family moved to Charlotte, NC from New York at the end of 1995. We were both in 7th grade. She started coming to my school after the year was already underway.

It was the time of year to buy Christmas trees so my mom and I went to get one for our house. We were checking out at the counter at the Hillbilly Produce Market (that's actually still there on Independence. I guess there's some connection with Independence and us?...)

As I started walking to the car with our Christmas tree it somehow got tangled with the tree of the shoppers in line behind us. It stopped me from going any further. And who were those people behind us?

*You guessed it - Crystal Pagels and her dad... out buying their Christmas tree. Same day, same place, same time. What are the chances?

And, of course it was love at 1st sight... haha, far from it. but that's still a great story of how we met!

Since we started "officially" dating on January 7th... you know how the whole anniversary thing works, right? Every month on the 7th that 1st year we would celebrate our anniversary! haha, remember those days? So, we had a 1 month anniversary, 2 months, 3 months, etc... Each one was big. That 1 year anniversary was REALLY big! I put on a suit, took her out to a fancy restaurant (fancy to me), and even made her a CD with love songs and stuff.

Of course after you have that first year anniversary - the little month anniversaries aren't as big, you know? It's kind of hard to celebrate your 27 month anniversary. yaknowwhati'msayin'? BUT, the 7th was always a special date to us.

We dated for the rest of high school and through college for over 5 1/2 years! & then we got hitched August 5th, 2005.

Of course ever since that day... the 7th hasn't been quite as special. 8/5/05 is the special date now.

But today is special to us. 9 years ago today I started a great love adventure with the most amazing woman in the world. I'm so thankful our Christmas trees got tied together that day and we later fell in love. I am SO HAPPY that God has unbelievably blessed me with spending the rest of my life with Crystal Mitchell.

I'm so thankful for you Crystal. You're so amazing to me. January 7th, 2009 we would have never guessed we'd be spending the rest of our lives together. But now I love you with all my heart and will spend the rest of my life making you happy. Happy 7th, Babygirl.