Happy Anniversary ....

"What God has joined, let no man put asunder"

10 years ago today, I married my best friend. Let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we?

In February of 2000 my life changed. In many ways, but in one way specifically.

I was working as a CSM (Customer Service Manager) for the now defunct Circuit City. I was making good money, I had just gotten a new car, life was good. As good as it could be anyway. I came home from work one night, and sat down in front of my computer to 'unwind'.

I had AOL at the time (who didn't right?) and I had been signed on for all of 10 minutes. I get an IM from someone who called himself "DanTheMan875". I'm thinking to myself, "Who is this? I don't know anyone with this screen name."

The IM said something along the lines of "Hi, my name is Dan. How are you?" Even though I didn't know this person, I didn't want to be rude. So I went along with the conversation. We ended up talking for a while that first night, and then the next day, and the next, and the next.

I actually looked forward to getting off of work, and signing onto AOL, so that I could chat with "Dan". I use the quotation marks at this point, because he was still just "Dan". I didn't know him personally, I wouldn't have known him if I'd walked past him on the street. I didn't even know at this point if his name was really Dan. But our conversations were the highlight of my day.

So around April, things progressed. We went from just chatting within IM's, to chatting on the telephone. I instantly was attracted to his voice. He had a really nice phone voice, and he told me I had the same. We would talk for hours. My cell phone bill was a little high, but I had the money to pay for it, so what did I care. I was enjoying myself.

We were becoming more of an item at this point, than even I realized. My mom, and my friends would comment on how my attitude had changed, and how I was acting as if I had a boyfriend. I didn't notice the difference but everyone else did.

April 8th of 2000, I was in my friends wedding. It was a hectic day. I woke up not feeling well, but I had a job to do. I had to stand up and play a part and I couldn't let a little 'illness' that would probably pass in a few hours, get in my way.

I thought about Dan all day long. I thought, prematurely of course, what if I end up marrying him? Remember, at this point, I had yet to meet him in person. He was just a voice on the other end of the phone, just a name on the computer screen. I hadn't even seen a picture of him.

I ended up having to leave the reception early, because I just didn't feel well at all. I drove myself home, and went straight to bed. That night, I ended up in the ER. Apparently I was experiencing Kidney Stones. I was VERY sick for the next few weeks. The only thing I could do was lay in bed, and of course talk on the phone, and online to Dan.

I stayed sick for a while, but finally got better, after a minor procedure. While I was sick, Dan and I had made plans to actually have a 'date'. He was going to meet me at my house, and then we were going to go to dinner, and to a movie. Typical first date stuff.

I was nervous as hell. The whole day. I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what to wear, how to do my hair, what make-up would match my outfit. It had been a long time since I'd actually been on a date. Come to think of it, I don't think I EVER had been on a date. I mean I had boyfriends, but they were after the fact boyfriends. Boyfriends that became boyfriends AFTER we were already really good friends. Which I don't recommend by the way, cause if the romantic relationship doesn't work out, not only do you lose your boyfriend, but you don't have your best friend to lean on for support, and you lose a friendship as well.

So, back to my, or OUR, first date.

Dan was supposed to be at my house at 3pm that day. At 3pm, on the nose, and I knew it was on the nose because I watching out the kitchen window, there was Dan, pulling up to my house.

My brother, bless his little heart, decided that his car needed to be 'worked on' this day, and around 2:45pm, he was under the car, 'working'. Really he was waiting for Dan to arrive, and then he started 'working'. When I think about it, this was a much better option than what he'd wanted to do. He told me the day before, that he was going to have shotgun shell on the counter, and that he was going to write Dan's name on it. He wanted to make sure that Dan saw it, and that Dan knew it was meant for him, should the need arise.

I threw a fit, of course, and nixed that plan in the bud. I settled for him (my brother) 'working' on his car.

OK, so back to it. I'm watching him, through the peephole now because I didn't want him to see me watching him, walk up to my house, and he's holding a bouquet of roses. Pink roses. Apparently he had done some research and found out that pink roses meant 'I'm thinking of you'. Which was really sweet. They weren't saying "I love you" they were saying "I'm thinking of you". Aww ...

So we had decided before that we were going to go to the park, and 'talk'. Sure we had talked on the phone, and we had talked online, a lot, but we hadn't actually had a face to face conversation. We sat at the park for a few hours, and just talked. We talked about all kinds of stuff. Then we decided to go to Camelot. We played putt-putt golf, which was actually really fun. And then we went to dinner.

Long story, which it's becoming, short .. we hit it off. From this point on, we were inseparable. I was going over to his house after work, and on the weekends. Basically anytime I wasn't working, and he wasn't working, we were together.

In June is when he popped the question. I was beyond surprised, but over the moon excited. I know what kind of looks you're giving me right now. You just met him, and you MET HIM ONLINE, and now you're ENGAGED?! Are you CRAZY?! I heard that from EVERYONE.

I can remember asking my mom when I was younger "How will you know when you meet the person you're supposed to be with for the rest of your life?" Her answer was always the same. "You'll just know." I never knew what she meant, until I met Dan. I knew from the moment I saw him, that he was the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with. In fact, when he knocked on my door, the day we had our first date, before I answered the door, I stood there in front of it, with my hand on the doorknob, and said to myself "OK Amanda, get ready to meet the man you're going to spend the rest of your life with."

We originally set the date for our wedding for March 24th 2001. We were planning on taking our Honeymoon in Hawaii. We were set.

Then, things changed. In late August, early September Dan was having money issues, and had decided that he was going to have to move back home. Home for him was South Lake Tahoe. This couldn't happen. South Lake Tahoe was 3 hours away from me. I couldn't let him leave. I knew that if he left, he wouldn't be able to come back anytime soon.

I told my mother, yes I was 21 years old, and still lived with my mother, that I was going to move in with Dan, so that he wouldn't have to move away. She, my mother, was NOT having any part of that. Her exact words were "you can't live with him unless you're married" (my mother is old-fashioned). So .. I made the decision right then that we would move the wedding up. We were getting married as soon as possible.

I called Dan and told him what was going on, and he agreed to the sooner nuptials. Now all we had to do was find a place to get married. That was going to be our biggest obstacle. Someplace that would marry us, and quickly.

Dan grew up in South Lake Tahoe. Wedding chapels are all over the place up there. It's like a mini-Las Vegas. So we did some online looking, made a few phone calls, and booked our wedding date for September 30th. Less than 20 days away. We had a lot to do.

Thankfully I had already found my wedding dress, I had already been fitted, and it was already on it's way. I just had to hope that the alterations would be completed in time. Thankfully they were. We made the reservations for the tuxedo, I found a maid-of-honor, and Dan found a best man. Travel was booked. Hotels were booked. Time off of work was requested, and approved. The ball was rolling, quickly, but at least it was rolling.

The day came. Finally. It was actually very quick from the time we booked the chapel, to THE day, but it seemed like it took forever. The actual day, because we weren't getting married until 4pm, took even longer. But, finally, it happened.

Amanda Hightower was no more. I was now, Mrs. Daniel Robertson. I loved the sound of that. I still love the sound of it.

Through out the past 10 years, we've faced our share of problems. We've gone from having a good amount of money, to having not much. We've had our fights, and our arguments, but we've always worked through them. That's what marriage is about. Learning to love your partner through the good times, AND the bad times.

A lot of people told us, before we got married, that we wouldn't make it. That our marriage wouldn't last, because we were doing it all too quickly. Well, to those nay-sayers, I have this to say. Look at us now. What do you have to say now? We made it. And we'll continue to make it. Here's to the last 10 years, and to the many, many more that are waiting for us.

I love you babe!!

Until Next Time ...

~Mrs. Amanda Robertson ... (told you I still liked the sound of it)