Today marks the 15th anniversary of Eric and I dating. It's hard to believe those days were so long ago.
Eric and I met at college, at Butler, as freshman. I was in the Marching Band and he was in the Symphonic Wind Ensemble and was dating a friend of mine. Eric was very quiet and kind of spooky when I first met him, he had very long hair, and only wore black. But by year end of Freshman year, I'd discovered what a nice guy he was.
So at the beginning of sophomore year, we were friends, and we'd had emotional summers. I had broken up with my boyfriend named Mark, it had only lasted a month, and Eric and his girlfriend had also broken up. We started hanging out together. A lot. After hours.
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This picture was taken the week before we started dating. Can you spot Eric and I? We'd decided to go to a concert together...my little sister's high school Choir concert. And we'd decided to make it a formal occasion. We were a little crazy back then.
We both had joined the school's honorary music fraternities. I was in Tau Beta Sigma (TBS) and he was in Kappa Kappa Psi (KKPsi). The fraternity and sorority did a lot of things together, and we would meet first in Joint meetings, then split off into separates.
One night, we were on our way to Ross Hall to pick up some friends of ours, to walk over to our weekly TBS/KKPsi meeting together. We were waiting, when our friends came out, stood on the front stoop, took one look at us, and said "We're going to drive." They darted off leaving me in shock wondering aloud why they did that.
Eric surprised me, "They knew I wanted to talk to you."
We sat down on the steps, and started talking. He'd been seeing a girl, and he'd broken it off, that very day, because he had begun to have feelings for me. So he was wondering...wondering if perhaps I'd like to go see Les Miserable on Sunday with him.
Yeah!
My response was automatic. I didn't hardly think of the consequences either. It was just so right. Because I too had been developing feelings for Eric. There were a couple friends who thought we'd make a good couple and I had begun to listen. I just figured since he was dating someone else, that it wasn't a possibility. Guess not. He felt the same way.
Eric took my hand and we walked over to Lilly Hall for our meeting. Holding hands. Happily Ever After.
Looking back on it now, those days were filled with emotional angst as only a 19 year old teenager can experience. And it was so neat how we ended up, how that was a turning point for us. So our official first date was going to Les Mis later that week, but we consider this day our Turning Point. So we used to celebrate it by a small present or going to dinner. But that was before kids....
On a sidenote, after the meeting, some folks went to Steak-n-Shake, and invited us along. We were holding hands, and we'd gone back to Eric's dorm so he could grab his wallet. I may have called him Hon as I reminded him to grab something else, I'm not sure. As soon as his back was turned, an acquaintance nudged me and asked, "How long have you two been dating?"
I looked at my watch. "About 2 hours."
And now it's 15 years. 15 years later! 15 years and my heart still flips when he kisses me. 15 years is still not long enough....
6 comments:
Thanks for coming to that choir concert, by the way - I remember my friends and I thinking it was weird of you all to dress up, but we appreciated it - it meant a lot - thank you. Zoo Boo pix are SO cute too!
Love hearing your story! How sweet!
aw :) That reminds me so much of our story!
What a great story, Cathy! Thanks for sharing it! It certainly is way more sweet than mine, but I would have expected no less from you! :)
Awww!!!! How sweet!! Congrats on 15 years of dating...hope you're looking toward 50 or 60 more!!
I loved reading your story...so cool and so very sweet!
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