Nine Years of Togetherness

His alarm goes off at 5am and the ringing mingles with our dreams for approximately 5 minutes. I roll close to him and say, "Tony, your alarm is going off." The noise stops. Tony gets out of bed. I'm laying there, trying to figure out what day it is. Thursday. January 12th. Excitement enters. It is on the twelfth that we celebrate out monthiversary. How long has it been? How many months have we been Tony & Shayna? I do early morning math. 108 months. I get out of the bed, find my Tony and tell him, "Today we've been together for nine years." :)

It was nine years ago, that Tony asked me to have lunch with him after that Sunday service. My 18 year old self shyly asked my parents if it would be okay and they said "yes." He picked me up in his little white pickup truck (the one he drove to work in this morning; the one I walk with him too every workday morning, where we exchange hugs and kisses and "i love you's.") We ate lunch together at Ryan's Restaurant and talked the entire time about all kinds of things. We got back in his truck and we both said, "it feels like I've known you forever." And it really did. It felt so natural to talk to this guy named Tony who was two years and seven months older than me. I think at that moment, we both knew that we were meant to be Tony & Shayna for the rest of our lives. :) We walked around the mall for a while, talking and laughing. In pure jest, he shocked me over and over again in the KB Toy Store, rubbing his feet across the patterned carpet and touching my arms. He picked on me for saying "bince" instead of "since" and for calling hot chocolate "cocoa."

The Thursday prior to this, my dad had invited Tony over to my families house for dinner. Tony was in the same Sunday School class as my parents and my dad had taken a liking to him. We had beef stew for dinner and we sat around the table as a family playing SkipBo. I wish there were pictures from back then. I wish I would have journaled my thoughts. But I do know that Tony was an instant fit into our family ~ and it was nice knowing that he was "pre-approved" by my dad. :)

There was never an official, "Shayna, will you go out with me?" But we have always marked January 12th, 2003 as our starting point. And we've been counting the months ever since. Tony was my first boyfriend, my first I-love-you, my first kiss, my first everything. For several of my growing up years, I had prayed that God would lead me to a good husband, one that I could talk to about anything and everything, one that would lead me well. A best friend is what I prayed for, and God was so gracious to provide just that!!!