These Are Days. And Those Were, Too.

This past weekend a good friend of ours from college came up from Florida to visit for the weekend.  We spent the days showing her around Atlanta, hopping from art festival to street fair, stopping for tasty local food and great sushi, and capping the weekend off with a dizzying venture through the wide, wide world of Ikea.  We spent the evenings cooking and eating elaborate farmer's market meals together, and laughing and reminiscing about our college days.

We came away from the street fair with a new wallet for Amber and a cute wooden necklace pendant for me.  From Ikea, we bought a box of wine glasses called "Nordby" (Baby name alert!!.... still kidding) for $4.99.  We got nothing from the art festival, partially because everything was a billion dollars, but mostly because whenever we go to arts and crafts festivals, I mutter the whole time "I could make that."  I'm woefully overconfident about both my artistic skills and my motivation to create art.  We still have a stack of wood pieces in the basement, because I swear I'm going to create an exact replica of a $70 wall hanging we saw at a shop in Blue Ridge a few months ago.  Someday.  When I figure out how.

The new necklace I couldn't have made myself.

But, aside from the new material possessions we acquired this weekend, I acquired--or more accurately was reminded of--two even greater things:  1). I love living in Atlanta (see above), and 2). Amber and I are very lucky to have had the profound and life shaping experiences we had in college (see below).

Amber and I met in college.  Eckerd College, in St Petersburg, FL, to be specific.  It was an awesome place, a place both of us still hold dear in our hearts.  Yes, it was on the beach.  Yes, I went to class barefoot on the regular.  And yes, we had a waterski team instead of a football team (Go Tritons!!).

But, it was more than just a four-year vacation to coastal waters.

It was a small, private liberal arts school, with an emphasis on the "liberal."  We didn't have the usual boring courses many schools have.  There was no English 101, no required US History course.  Instead, there was Biodiversity (I & II), Western Heritage, Marine Biology, and the senior capstone class "Quest for Meaning." Don't get me wrong, the classes were rigorous, the professors were amazing, and we learned everything required of a baccalaureate degree.  But, more than just learning, Eckerd promoted thinking.  It promoted exploring the world and our position in it.  We had two regular semesters a year, plus a one month "Winter Term," where you took one intensive, experiential course.  Amber went to Costa Rica and Nicaragua to study their social welfare systems and volunteer at a refugee camp one Winter Term.  I created my own Winter Term program, and spent a month in the rainforest following capuchin monkeys and studying their behavior.

But, it was more than just four years of classroom learning and field trips.

It was a place where separately, Amber and I discovered who we each were, and together, we realized we were meant to be together.

We were both Anthropology majors, and had seen each other around campus and in a few classes since we were freshmen.  But, it wasn't until the fall semester of junior year, when we both took "Cultures of Sub-Saharan Africa" that we really got to know each other.  We hit it off pretty immediately, but it took us about six months to build up the courage to admit it to each other.  In that six months, though, we spent nearly every waking moment together.  We would set out to study for exams together, but would end up staying up all night, talking in Amber's dorm room instead.  We told each other our life stories.  We shared our innermost thoughts, philosophies, and fears.  And we laughed.  We laughed at ourselves, at each other, and at things that nobody else would even find funny.

And finally, after six months of this ridiculousness, I worked up the courage to tell her that I really liked her. That even though I only ever had dated guys before, I was falling in love with her.  That I wanted us to give this whole 'relationship' thing a whirl.

And she said........nothing.  Not a word.  For like, an eternity!  And then she said:

"Oh, that's not AT ALL what I thought you were going to say!"

And I nearly died.  Or at least I nearly cried.  But then, another eternity later, she said:

"Oh, I mean....that's what I was HOPING you'd say.  I really like you, too"

And, so it began.  Twelve years later, I love her just as much as I did that day.  More, probably.  We've really grown up together.  We have so many shared experiences on which we can look back and laugh.  We have a few memories that make us cry too, but who doesn't?  And at least we've gone through the inevitable difficult things in life together.  We're lucky to have each other, and we're thankful for that.

We're looking forward to welcoming a child into our life, and bringing him or her up in a household full of love.  We want our child to see and know what a solid, honest, loving relationship looks like.  Our greatest hope is that he or she will grow up one day and find "the one,"  the way Amber and I found each other, all those years ago.

Then.  Our first picture together (1998).

Now.  Visiting Eckerd 10 yrs after graduation (2009).

{If this blog post was a movie, this song would play over the closing credits}


x's & o's,

Michelle