Summer Love Lasts Forever

December is my favorite month of the year. There are so many special things that make this month amazing, but the one that comes to mind first would be mine and Ethan's wedding anniversary. We've been through a lot since tying the knot, and I would like to take some time to talk about our relationship from the beginning and introduce you to the amazing man I married.

Ethan and I started dating on May 29, 2003. It was the day after my 8th grade graduation. I was 13 and Ethan was 15. I was Ethan's first girlfriend so he had absolutely no experience with asking a girl out. We were on the phone that night talking {like we had been for the past week and a half since Ethan's sister, Ruthie, told him that I had a crush on him} and he just randomly came out and said "So would you maybe wanna go see a movie with me sometime...or something?" I giggled and said yes and then he hung up. He called back less than 5 minutes later and with his friends laughing in the background he said, "Do you want to be my girlfriend?" It was so cute, of course I said yes. Later on he told me that his friend, Nick, made him call me back because he apparently sounded like an idiot asking me to the movies. Either way I loved it.
When we first started dating, neither one of our parents were completely thrilled about it. My mom had worries about Ethan being older than me, because of a past relationship I was in with an older guy that didn't end so well. She definitely didn't think that we would be dating very long. Ethan's parents didn't want us dating at all. They have strict religious beliefs and I think that they thought we were too young. They believe you're supposed to start dating when you're ready to get married, which obviously at our age we were not planning on marriage at all. We were just kids having fun.

Because of our parents' worries, we had to have a chaperon when we were together. Someone to make sure we weren't getting into trouble. Ethan's parents also decided that we were only allowed to see each other once a week. Ethan was homeschooled and I wasn't so we couldn't see each other during the week hardly at all so Sunday afternoons soon became my favorite part of the week. Usually Ethan would come to work with me and my parents on Sunday to get their cafeteria ready for opening on Monday morning. We hated it at the time, but looking back on it I think it really helped our relationship. By limiting our time together we learned to make the most of it, and to understand that there was a world out there beyond the two of us {as a lot of teenagers get when they are dating someone}.

My mom was on board with his parents' rules in the beginning, but as we got older she became more lax in her supervision. It also helped that Ethan was in some ways {at least when around adults} different than other guys his age because of the homeschooling. We came from two very different "clicks", he was the ghetto boy from the rough part of town, and I was the poor girl in the rich part of town. His friends were on the shadier side, and mine were a mix of drama/choir kids and the slutty girls. If we had gone to high school together we would have never worked out.

On our first date we went to the mall with Ruthie, and my best friend Sarah - both of them are the reason Ethan asked me out in the first place. We walked around for a while, window shopping. We went in the Sleep Number store and found our numbers {I'm a 50 and Ethan's a 55...yes I still remember} then we decided to go see a movie. The Italian Job was the first movie we ever watched together. We sat a few rows in front of Ruthie and Sarah, and every time Ethan would put his arm around me Sarah and Ruthie would imitate us. The couldn't stop giggling when he kissed me on the forehead towards the end of the movie. Very mature right? After the movie, my parents picked us up from the mall. Before we got in the car Ethan stopped me in the parking lot and asked me if he could kiss me. How sweet is that?! I knew he was special then.


Ethan {15} and Me {14}