Five On Friday

Today I’m linking up with A. Liz Adventures and Carolina Charm for Five On Friday and A Little Bit of Everything Blog for Friday Favorites. 

Today marks twelve years since Brian and I started dating.  Twelve.  I know we now have a wedding anniversary to celebrate instead, but I still love marking this occasion as well.  In light of our dating anniversary, here are five random facts about our relationship before we got married.   

O N E  

So, how did we meet?  We met back in early 2002 through a mutual friend, which brings me to...

T W O 

...Brian and I lived together before we ever even dated.  What?!   

Once upon a time, at the ripe age of 19, I was attending our local university, and I decided that I was ready to move out of my parents’ house and be on my own.  And by “on my own” I mean that I wanted to live with roommates.  Well, none of my girlfriends were interested, and I just so happened to have a guy friend who was looking for a roommate because he had just moved back home from college.  He had a friend named Brian who had also just moved back from college who he thought would be the perfect third party. 

So, the three of us moved in together and lived in harmony for, oh, maybe three months before I decided that, A, I was not ready to live on my own, and B, I didn’t like living with gross boys.  I missed my Mommy and Daddy and moved right back home.  #Baby  

The boys replaced me with one of their friends from work, and we all stayed friends, which eventually (way down the road) resulted in Brian and me dating.

T H R E E 

Apparently the first time I remember meeting Brian is not the actual first time that I met him.  Huh?! 

The first time I remember meeting Brian was just before moving in with him when we were all looking for a place to live at the beginning of 2002.   

But apparently we actually met for the first time during the summer of 2001, eight months or so prior to that.  I was with a group of friends with whom I worked, and we all met at a little league field to play a late night game of softball.  Supposedly Brian was there with his group of friends with whom someone was mutual friends with one of my friends.  Do I remember Brian being there?  Nope.  Does he remember me being there?  Yep.  Apparently I make a good first impression.  ;o)

F O U R 

My daddy has known Brian since he was just a kid.  Crazy!! 

One of my daddy’s best friends is the dad of Brian’s best friend.  My dad used to go hang out at his dad’s house, and Brian would be over there, too, hanging out with his friend.  Small world?  Yep.

F I V E 

For the first year that we dated, Brian gave me red roses every single month on our anniversary – one for every month that we had been together – one rose on our one month anniversary, two roses on our two month anniversary, and so on… all the way until he gave me a dozen roses on our one year anniversary.  I saved every single one of them, and they are all labeled and stored in an old shoe box.  Makes me smile every time I open it.  

I know it sounds cheesy, but I feel like my life truly began once I started dating Brian.  I have always had a pretty good sense of self, and I have always been an independent person, but I feel like my true self was finally revealed when I met him.  I’ve never had more fun, done more travelling, or been happier in my whole life than in the last twelve years that he and I have been together. 

He has always brought out the best in me, and for that, I love him. 

Happy twelve years, Babe.