Show Us Your Life – Valentine’s Memories

This weeks Show Us Your Life topic is Valentine’s Day dates and memories. I am so lucky to have had the most amazing valentine for the past 8 years! We started dating in 2002 when we were set up for the prom and got married in May 2008. It is hard to believe that after 8 years together there are still days i get butterflies in my stomach when i hear the garage door open when he comes home from work. People often ask how would you describe love or how did you know that Alex was the one and my answer is always the same….i’d rather have a bad time with him than a good time with anyone else.

For the past three years we have celebrated Valentine’s Day at home with a nice dinner. Valentine’s Day falls exactly between our birthdays, his is the 8th and mine is the 22nd because of this we never made a huge deal for Valentine’s Day.

So instead of telling you my favorite Valentine’s Day date or memory i am going to take some inspiration from this weeks episode of The Middle and tell you my top 5 favorite memories of our relationship thus far, not including our wedding or birth of Liam.

1. During the spring of 2008 Alex and I were living in State College and within weeks of our wedding. One of the things we got in the habit of doing was taking walks in the evening. It was the combination of the warm spring air after a long winter and the anticipation of our wedding in a few weeks that made those evening walks so memorable for me. I often think back to that time in our lives and wish i could relive it just once more.

2. In the summer of 2007 we took a vacation to Ocean City Maryland with Alex’s family. All around it was one of the most fun vacations i have had. Since i was always the young one in the group this was the first vacation that i was 21 and we were all able to go out together. One night we all went to Secretes and had a few to many Pain in the Asses (a drink) and then proceeded to go to a seafood buffet, oh the laughs we had that night. On that vacation we also took a boat ride to a small island and got to explore then had a fabulous dinner on the bay at one of my favorite restaurants. Alex and I also went for a walk on the beach one night. I know that it so cliché but it was special and is definitely one of my top 5 memories.

3. During my freshman year and Alex’s sophomore year in college we took two classes together, an art history class and a biology of aging class. Taking those classes together was fun because we were able to be together in a setting that we had never been before; plus the competitiveness between us brought us both A’s in both classes. In the spring our art history class took a trip to Washington DC to visit an art museum. DC was so beautiful because the cherry blossoms were just blooming. We had a lot of fun on that trip and it was one of the first times we were able to explore a whole new place together. Later that year I took a trip to Philadelphia with my integrative arts class and Alex was lucky enough to be able to come along too. The thing i remember most able that trip was sitting in a gazebo that overlooked the river were they were practicing crew. It was so peaceful and memorable.

4. Last summer we spent one night sitting out on our porch scouring the internet for reviews on baby products. I can remember sitting out there well after the sun had gone down trying to find the best of the best for our child. It was a great memory to me because i saw the excitement in both of us for the adventure that was a head.

5. Our time in living in Lions Gate is one memory that is at the very top of my list. I have said it before and I will again; if i was able to take Nigel and Liam (the two things we gained since moving to Indy) i would move back into that one bedroom apartment tomorrow. I never felt so comfortable as i did there. I loved every single thing about where we lived. I loved how we lived a little ways from the downtown, i loved the areas we used to go for walks in, i loved being able to go to Wegman’s after work and taking the back way home, I loved being able to walked to Weis for a small order, i loved all the names we had for our neighbors (Rocky and Rocky’s owner, The British Dude, Limp, The Serial Killer), and i loved being a short two hour drive from all of our family. It was a great time in my life and the memories that we had there will never be lost in my mind.

6. I decided to do six because number one and five were similar. My number six favorite memory is driving around Mountaintop looking at Christmas lights. For a few years we would stop and get coffee and then drive around looking at lights. We have now made this a family Christmas Eve tradition and i am so excited for many more years of fantastic memories.