Friday, September 22, 2017

Double Digits

Despite the details remaining a bit fuzzy (umm... because of the heat... yeah, the heat...), the gravity of what transpired on that fateful Labor Day weekend cannot be ignored. The annual Rocky Mountain Showdown was upon us, my buddies and I had been tailgating, our chests were painted, and we were yelling and cheering from our seats. I happened to be sitting at the east edge of the south stands of INVESCO Field Sports Authority Field Mile High Stadium, overlooking a concession stand packed with hungry students looking for a hot dog. As I was perusing the crowd from above, I saw Adam - a buddy of mine from high school who was a Resident Assistant during that current school year. Standing next to him was this drop-dead gorgeous lady that I had never seen but immediately needed to meet. After some wild gesticulations and loud noises (my specialties), Adam saw me hanging over the ledge and we somehow agreed, through choppy hand gestures, to meet at the bottom of my section after they got their food. As I made my way to the bottom of the section, I fought through the crowd and found Adam - where he casually introduced me to the love of my life.

That story is fifteen years old. Fifteen years since I randomly scanned a concession stand line and my life took a sharp turn to a completely new trajectory.

It started as most college relationships do - two broke kids scraping enough change together to grab a bite to eat. It quickly moved to more serious business - dates in the library where one of us would study and the other would eat sunflower seeds and wander through the section with the over-sized photography books. I will let you figure out who was who. It was during these late nights in the library where our different approaches to our education provided a glimpse of how two individuals could and should meld together. She was focused, dedicated, tenacious, and serious about her studies. I was relaxed, scatter-brained, doing just enough to succeed, and full of stupid jokes. My levity interrupted her (what I considered to be excessive) study sessions and her dedication to those nightly library visits forced me to actually focus on the reason why I was in college in the first place. Looking back now, those hours spent together across the table from each other are a perfect snapshot of our lives together. Sarah provides the stability, the structure, the smarts, the drive. I stare across the table at the gorgeous woman that will actually talk to me with a stupid look on my face. As individuals, we each succeed in our own fashion; we approach life's problems with different viewpoints and from differing angles. But as a couple, we combine our strengths to form an amazing partnership that flattens the valleys and raises the peaks.

After three and a half years of growing together, I decided enough was enough and I took her back to where Adam inadvertently changed our lives. She said yes. I finally breathed.


A year and a half later, I stood at the front of the church waiting for the doors to open. They opened. She was actually there. I finally breathed yet again.


That story is ten years old today. Ten years since the bombshell from the concession line decided that she would tolerate me for the rest of time. Ten years of her mere presence making me a better person. Ten years of sharing my life with my favorite person in the world. Thank you, Sarah, for being my wife for the last ten years.

I love you.
Courtesy of Brookie T Photography