It was a hot day in the town we grew up in. Having lived our entire lives in the sunshine state though, it wasn’t uncomfortable. I had just graduated from UCF and spent most of my summer making sandwiches at The Red Onion because there were no web design jobs in Vero Beach – especially not in those days. Amy was 2 years into the Chemical Engineering program at The University of Florida after deciding that her first year at Florida Tech felt too much like high school. We were young, naive and mostly broke but we were sure of one thing, we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together.
On July 19th, 2003, we just made it official.
When I think back to the 3 years and 3 days that we’d been a couple before we said our vows, I can’t help but smile. I vividly remember conversations about what kind of house we’d buy some day, how many kids we would have and places we wanted to visit before starting a family. We already felt as if we’d known each other forever and in some ways, we did. We grew up in the same quirky town, went to the same high school and were even part of the same church youth group. Even though I was a year ahead, we were good friends in school and became great friends during my first year of college. We even went to her Senior Prom…as friends. It took a little nudging from both of our families and a really awkward first date before it became more than that, but once it did, we never looked back.
Eleven years is a long time and we have a lot of life to show for it. We’ve lived in 3 different states, I wrote a book, Amy got her PhD and now we have 2 beautiful daughters. We didn’t get to travel nearly as much as we planned and neither of the 2 houses we’ve owned have been as close to the ocean as we originally dreamed about but we really can’t complain. Our life isn’t perfect but it’s always changing. If there’s one thing we’re sure of, it’s that we still want to spend the rest of it together. I <3 U, Ames!
