Many Years Ago...

Twenty-some years ago, two moms made their children--a little boy and little girl--join children's choir at Immanuel Lutheran Church. The girl always sat in the front row, mouth open wide, singing all the words. The little boy sat in the back, playing with his choir robe, shoving the other boys. The girl was a smartypants and didn't have time for the boy's antics. The boy was a year older than the girl and thought himself to be much cooler.

The parents of the boy and the girl were good friends, so the boy and the girl knew each other as they grew up and moved on from children's choir. The boy wrestled and was his team's captain; the girl starred in plays and was section leader in band. Eventually, when the boy and girl were in high school, the boy's family decided to join another church. The boy left and the girl didn't see him for many years.

After high school, both the boy and the girl decided to go to college in the Fargo, ND/Moorhead, MN area. The girl went to Concordia (Fear the Ear), and the boy went to NDSU (Go, Bison). They never saw each other, even though the boy's roommate dated one of the girl's roommates. Then, in August of 2001, the girl was celebrating a friend's birthday at a bar that she didn't really like (she was still a smartypants who wasn't a fan of antics) and the boy was there with some friends (still goofing around). They had a "you look familiar," "where do I know you from?"
conversation until they remembered children's choir, their white robes with red bows, and running through the church. They began to spend more and more time together, reconnecting as old acquaintances, then connecting as friends.

On November 4th of that year--the girl's birthday--she realized that the boy from children's choir was more than just an old acquaintance or new friend. The girl is a bit obsessed about her birthday, and out of the blue, the boy remembered to call. This is no small miracle, considering the dates that have slipped the boy's mind since then. After that particular November 4th, however, she couldn't stop talking about the boy, and a roommate asked, "When are you going to stop pretending that he's just a friend?"

On October 15, 2005, back at the same church where they sang together in children's choir years before, the boy and girl were married...


Three years later and hundreds of miles from that church in Minnesota, they're still living happily ever after.

I love you, Matty! Happy anniversary.