1998--navy cords, red sweater, letter jacket

Yes, my friends 11 years ago tomorrow I had my first date with THE Ben Black. I met him at a movie theater for a movie I didn't admit to already seeing--but still scared the pants off of me the 2nd time (Not literally!) What to wear what to wear? I know. Navy trouser cords with a red sweater that had some navy in it. hawt. Also relatively sure I was decked out in some brown steve maddens. Oh the fashion. My gift to my first date? A heart shaped sucker that comes in the long hanging pack of like 20 you get at the grocery store. He got one. He got me... a movie ticket. After the movie we headed to starbucks where I'm sure we talked about silly things and were on our best behavior. I don't think we criticized everyone around us or eavesdropped on others conversations the way we do now (and by we, I mean me--ben is nice.)

Unfortunately, Ben's family ate dinner together at like 5 pm and my family... well, a. rarely had time to sit down to a meal for running all over the place, b. rarely sat at a table, and c. ate around 8-9pm. SO, in our first dating adventures (for approximately 6-8 months) it was a good thing that Benners had a super early curfew--this allowed me to swing by Wendy's for a junior bacon cheeseburger after each date.

Luckily for me he quit being scared to eat around me at some point and I quit eating Wendy's 2x a weekend. We are on to bigger and better things 11 years later--or at least I'm bigger than I was then and surely better at eavesdropping. So tomorrow we'll head to Dallas for a friends wedding who is getting married in Perkins Chapel (on SMU's campus). Maybe we will re-live our 2nd valentine's day when Ben was late to pick me up in his 1983 green volvo with a crank sun roof because he had a flat and I had purchased him the soundtrack to RENT. Or, maybe, we won't do that, but we'll get a chance to think about 11 years together--all of our past and all of our future... how we started wanting to spend so much time together and even now, I feel like I can't get enough hours together--and maybe we'll have a few glasses of wine. I mean, after all it is a celebration :)

Happy Valentine's Day!