This weekend, Josh and I celebrated six years since we first began dating. I think most folks probably stop celebrating the dating anniversary after they're married, but for me, that date is still just as special.

Saturday was the actual day, but since I joined Katie Dickson Photography to second shoot a beautiful wedding in Boone, we celebrated on Sunday by having a delicious brunch at Sweet Potatoes in Winston-Salem where we enjoyed sweet potato pancakes with fried chicken tenders and eggs benedict on a sweet potato biscuit... can you say YUMMMM?! This was our first time to this place and O.M.G. it is amazing... certainly my new favorite restaurant in the Triad. Great food at a great price with an amazingly kind waitstaff. All you engaged couples getting married in Winston-Salem, this place would make a fab rehearsal dinner or bridal luncheon spot. We wrapped up the day by settling in on the couch and watching Going the Distance (my pick, of course) which was amazingly appropriate for the occasion.

So, instead of writing my version of the dating story, I'm going to give y'all the Josh version that he blogged this time two years ago... I'm sure he'll be embarassed that I publicized this sap, but that's what happens when you post stuff on the internet, Joshua :) Here goes:

Four years ago today...

A girl, whom I was long-distance telephone friends with and had made out with a couple times, and I decided to start “dating” in some sense of the word. I say that because it wasn’t until September of that year that we actually got to see each other again, so it was more or less an agreement not to see other people and to carry on our phone conversations that usually exceeded 2 to 4 hours every night.

Since that time, we spent a year and a half seeing each other about once per month until we just couldn’t take it anymore and she left her favorite city in the world (Nashville ftw!), all of her friends, and the beautiful southern climate, transferring schools to be with me in Erie. During winter.

On May 6 of that year, we were browsing engagement rings as we had done quite a few times before. We ended up designing a custom ring online and I promised her that some day I would save up enough money to give her that perfect ring. On May 7, I bought the exact ring that we designed. When it arrived, I hid the ring in my roommate’s closet and called her parents to ask for their blessings. Knowing that it was it was only a matter of waiting for the right moment was nerve-wracking. We still talked about rings and went ring shopping. Plenty of “right moments” came and went as we spent evenings on the beach, went to classy restaurants, often times with the ring in my pocket.

On the afternoon of May 23, we sat on the couch talking about rings and finally decided, together, that it there was no sense saving and waiting any more. We were just going to go to the mall and get the “next best thing” at a jewlery store. I went to my room to get my shoes and emerged a nervous wreck with my hand behind my back, my heart beating out of my chest, and no shoes on. I got down on one knee as she sat on the couch wide-eyed and panicking. I pulled my hand from behind my back to reveal a small stuffed Aflac duck and gave it a squeeze to make it say, “AFLAAAC.”

We both had a laugh and I’m pretty sure she hit me a few times for scaring her. I went back to my room and came back out with my shoes on and the ring box subtly cupped in my hand. I knelt in front of her just as I had with the duck and I showed her the ring, my hand shaking so badly that she probably couldn’t even tell that it was the ring she had picked out just a few weeks prior. In what was easily the most nervous moment of my life, I asked her to marry me. After about 5 seconds of silence, or what seemed like 10 minutes to me, I begged her to say something. Of course, she said yes. Instead of going to the mall to shop for rings, we went and spent the evening watching the sunset on the beach.

Two wonderful years to the day later (that’s this year, for anyone who lost track), we were married in Nashville. Once you’re married, it seems silly to celebrate dating anniversaries, but I’m still at the point where I’ll use any excuse I can find to tell her how much I love her¹. I hope I always am.

¹ or to go to a nice restaurant.

Us six years ago... my first trip to Pennsylvania and the first time we had seen each other since we started dating.