Tonight makes me travel down memory lane. On this day, 10 years ago, Craig and I went on our very first date. Now, we weren't officially dating, but he was taking me out for a night with no other friends.
Let's rewind a little bit. We met at a baseball game in August. I will never forget my first time talking to the cute boy who was sitting on the other side of my friends in the bleachers. I was in line getting some food at the game and he showed up right behind me. He said, "Fancy meeting you here. I'm Craig Zappe." And he went for the handshake. I told him my name was Janel-I didn't feel like the last name was necessary-and we made small talk. We started spending more time together with mutual friends. Our feelings quickly grew towards one another but neither one of us were ready to take the next step. In the eyes of a high schooler, 3.5 months is a long time to get to know a person. Most dive in to a relationship and hoping it all works for the best. But, we didn't. So, I was second guessing whether or not he really liked me, but I was quite confident he did. We talked almost daily on MSN Messenger-oh yes, you remember the good ol' days. We hung out with mutual friends. He completely plowed me over while playing two hand touch football at a friend's house. Somebody forgot the rules and got into game mode and charged straight at me leveling me to the ground. We sat by each other at lunch. Besides the chats on MSN, we emailed back and forth. And we began to form inside jokes. All signs that things were going to happen. And finally, they did.
Our first date went a little like this. We started the evening at 5:45 (I know this because I have kept every email ever sent my Craig) by him picking me up in his classic 1991 Buick Regal. It was maroon with a white rag top and sported a fancy CB antenna on the back. We made our way to a local restaurant in town:
Since then, this has grown to be our favorite restaurant in town. Not only does it have great food, but it is where we started. We had a great time talking and getting to know each other. Next on our agenda was a movie, but we finished dinner too fast so walked around the mall a little bit. But, we eventually made our way over to Cinema 7 and decided to see this movie:
It was the perfect movie for a first date! It was hilarious! This movie is one of our favorite Christmas movies now and our kids quote it often-especially around Christmas time. It was time to bring me back home because we had school in the morning. As we were driving the classy looking Regal to my Mom's, we went over a bump and the radio station changed. I thought for sure since his car was so old that it changed stations every time he went over a bump. It just so happened that he could switch the station on his steering wheel! Joke was on me!
I was quite confident the date had went well and that he would ask me out. He walked me to the front door of my mom's apartment building, but nothing. He didn't try to hold my hand and there was no kiss to finish the night. So, even though I felt like it went well and I really liked him and our time together, I didn't know how he was feeling. And I was heading to North Dakota the next day for Thanksgiving.
We officially started dating on November 30th after a night at his parents. Mr. Zappe, my former geography teacher, showed me Snow Village nicely displayed in their living room and we played a game of Candy Land. His mom told me they had games for our age but I was fine playing Candy Land. It wasn't until that drive back to my mom's apartment that night where we had a little conversation:
C: So, what if people ask me what's up between you and Janel tonight on MSN?
J: Well, what do you want to say?
C: Well, I would like to say that we're going out.
J: Ok.
C: Ok. So we're going out?
J: I guess so.
Smooth, right? It's pretty funny looking back. And I will never forget it.
I have asked him since why he didn't try to hold my hand or kiss me or ask me out. His response-he wanted to get to know me for me. He didn't want to take advantage of me because he respected me. And it finally made sense. He was a genuine guy who truly cared and liked me for me. He wasn't looking for anything physical, he was looking for someone to pursue to marry and that is when I knew that he was the one for me.
So here we are about 10 years ago. This isn't from the dinner and movie date or the Snow Village, Candy Land, MSN asking out night. It was from a night of bowling with friends.
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And here we are now. 10 years as a couple and going strong! Even though we don't spend much of our time together, we talk on the phone multiple times throughout the day and I am always the last person he talks to before he goes to bed. I'm a night person so sometimes I have a few more phone calls after him.
Craig Zappe, yes, the last name is necessary. After all that is how he introduced himself to me. I love you more and more every day. I love you for being my best friend, for respecting me, for going above and beyond to make me happy in life. Thank you for blessing me with 7+ years of marriage, 3 beautiful children, a home to call our own, a reliable vehicle even though I do miss that Regal, and working so hard for our family and allowing me to live out my dream of being a stay at home mom. The past ten years with you have flown by yet at the same time has brought on a lot of challenges, changes and decisions for us. But I am thankful for each and every day spent with you (even though we are apart). You amaze me daily and you still know how to make me smile and laugh. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us in the next 10 years and I can't wait until you get home later this week so we can go out to DMB's and come home and watch Elf. Oh, and I love you more. :)
