Celebrating.

Wow, this is long... but, good story. ;)

Today is the 7-year anniversary of us. :)

We had met when we were 15 (had a BUNCH of classes together... lucky me!), and I liked him RIGHT away. I told my best friend that I wanted to marry him. He was cute and funny and wicked fun! And he just... well, he was glowing... all the time. He walked around school like he was in a bubble. A bubble on top of the world and everything was wonderful. I loved that.

He would stick my pencils up his nose. I would ask him to smell my perfume, and he would lick my hand. He tortured teachers mercilessly (he would fake wetting his pants... poor, Ms. Gozigian)! He was never serious about anything, and I thought he was hilarious. He left our high school at the end of our junior year. We were 16.

Fast forward three years. He moved back to our town. I came home from college due to illness. We started to hang out a lot, and we had SO much fun together. His friends kept telling me that he liked me. I didn't believe them. I didn't care. I was over Jeremy. One night in October, we were playing truth or dare. My turn to choose somebody. I chose Jeremy. He chose "truth." I knew he had never kissed a girl so...

Me: Jeremy, if you could choose *the* girl to be your first kiss, who would you choose? It can be anybody!

Jeremy: Actually, Reyanna, I'd really enjoy kissing you. (He said it very softly and slowly, peered up and smiled.)

Me: *Blush* (Had NO idea that was coming.) Uhhh... okay, thanks. Uhh... err... your turn!

Jeremy: I choose Reyanna!

Me: Uhh... okay. Dare?

Jeremy: Okay! I dare you to kiss me!

Me: (Oh, crap! What have I gotten myself into?!?! Okay, all our friends are here. All our friends are watching. All our friends are thinking, "Holy Crap! Reyanna is about to kiss Jeremy!" Okay, he obviously *wants* me to kiss him. Well, alright, I'll just kiss him... I mean, it's what he *wants*... I should be nice and just, you know... kiss him.) Uhhh... okay. (I lean over slowly and kiss him. He doesn't kiss back.)

So yeah, that was in October. Later that night he pulled me aside and said, "I just wanted to thank you for the kiss. And I just wanted to let you know that I didn't kiss back because I didn't want to be rude. I dared you to kiss me. I didn't think it would be very gentleman-like if I kissed you back." Awww! Sweet! Anywho... okay, so... nothing ensued. We just hung out a lot. He was fun. We had fun. I *still* didn't believe that he liked me.

November 1, 2000, he asked to do laundry at my house. He brought it over... and then left it there. Me, being naive and a complete dork, thought that was an accident. (SOOOOO not an accident.)

So, November 2, 2000, Jeremy calls.

Jeremy: Uhh, hi! I left my laundry at your house!

Me: I know. I noticed. You're dumb. (or something to that effect)

Jeremy: So can I come over and get it?

Me: Yes, of course.

Jeremy: Right now?! Can I come over right now?!

Me: (Strange that he's so excited, but...) Uhh... sure. Yeah. Come over.

So Jeremy arrives and right away says, "Can I talk to you? In you room?" Uhhh... weird. Okay. So I mutter a "yeah, sure," and I walk to my room (as he follows). No sooner did I get in there and he closed the door did he spin around and say, "Do you know how much I like you?!?!"

Me: *shocked* Uhh... no... how much do you like me?

Jeremy: I'm totally stoked on you! You're gorgeous and lively and kind and cool and fun and funny, and you're a tease... but I'm not complaining. And I just think we should be together.”

Me: (Still shocked. How the heck do I reply to that?! Come on. I don't really want a boyfriend. I just got out of that 10-day dating mistake with that stalker guy.) Umm... well, wow, thank you. But I'm not really looking to have a boyfriend.

Jeremy: (Not giving up.) Well, you've had boyfriends before. And you just went out with that stupid guy. (Referring to stalker.) We get along so well, and we'd be so good together.

Me: (Well, he *does* really like me. I guess I can just humor him for a few months, right?! He is pretty cool to hang out with.) Well, I don't know. I do love to hang out with you.

Jeremy: Great then! Okay. Well, I guess I'll go get my laundry.

Me: (Uhh... so are we together now, or what?!)

We both walked out of the room... I'm pretty sure we were both VERY confused about what had just taken place. We hung out the rest of the day, and he kissed me goodbye (on the cheek) when he left that night. Actually, he got all the way out to his friend's car when I saw him RUNNING back up to my door. With a huge smile on his face, he said, "May I kiss you goodbye?!" I turned my face so he could kiss my cheek. We both smiled and he ran and skipped and shouted with glee... all the way back to his friend. Tee hee.

"I REALLY like him," I thought. "Yeah, we're together now."

Oh, Jeremy. Honey, you are adorable. Thank you for being "stoked" on me. The last seven years have been amazing. Here's to 90 more. :D And who knew that humoring you would land me a SUPER-cool husband?! ;)

(Picture taken a few months after we got together. This is a picture of a picture because I couldn't get the scanner to work. I'll post the better one soon.)