Eight and a half years...

Today is our two year anniversary! Yay! At the risk of sounding really corny, I just can't believe how quickly the time has gone! :-)

In honor of this special day, I will treat you to the story of how Luke and I came to be a couple. Ahem...let me begin.

I barely knew who Luke was until Homecoming our freshman year of high school. Luke was a "new kid" at Wes-Del that year. Wes-Del is so small, so it is very noticeable when someone new comes. However, Luke was very shy and soft-spoken. He didn't really make his presence known. I knew about him because of his older brothers and also because I had watched some of my guy friends play in a basketball league at the Muncie Boys and Girls Club once, and Luke was on their team. I remember my dad saying that he would be in my class as a freshman, but I think I was in 7th grade at the time and that really meant nothing to me.

Anyway, he was nominated for Homecoming Court freshman year, and I thought, "Who is that?" He obviously was popular enough to win the nomination, so why hadn't I seen/heard of him before now? At the time, a crew of freshman girls in my class were jockeying for position with Luke. He ran cross country, and we kept trying to get our extremely athletic friend, Heather, to date him. 

It wasn't until winter that year when I really noticed Luke. He joined our GT class (gifted and talented...save the comments please) at that time, and we were a pretty tight-knit group. We obviously had to get to know each other. He was really quiet, and really, well...high on himself, I thought. He liked to talk about his grades and other things. That wasn't very cool with me. I didn't have much interest in him at that point.

Then basketball season started and he was one of two freshmen to play varsity, and me being a cheerleader, I started to pay attention. He was talented and I was drawn to that. However, I still probably out-weighed him and his ego was a little big. We began to chit-chat online (AOL Instant Messenger) and started a friendship. By that spring, Luke delivered a hand-written letter to me asking me "out." Basically, he wanted to be my boyfriend, and I allowed that, even though I barely knew him.

We spoke only at school. I was too embarrassed to tell my parents that I had a boyfriend. We didn't know each other very well, and he was too shy to hold my hand. This relationship was heading nowhere, so I broke up with him...by email...on our one month anniversary...which happened to be his birthday, too. I didn't know that, however, because that is how much we didn't know about each other. 

I felt bad, but I had to see what else was out there. And it wasn't much, people. That fall, as sophomores, we started the year as friends. Luke settled in more at WD and was friendlier, easier to talk to, and he had more to comment on than just his 99% in English. We talked a lot online, and I genuinely started to like him. By that winter, we were really close to making it "official"...as official as sophomores can make it!

New Year's Eve 2000...we were at a party for a friend's birthday. We were inseparable. He presented me with a gold heart bracelet that he had shopped for with my then-best friend, Holly. That night, we decided to be boyfriend and girlfriend again! 

EIGHT AND A HALF YEARS LATER... and we have been married two years! We experienced all of high school's ups and downs together. We endured four years at two separate colleges. We have gutted through two years of medical school. We dreamed our dreams together and made them come true together. He knows me better than anyone, and I thank God for him each day. I never want to live a day on this earth without him! 

2 Year Anniversary

Yesterday, Luke and I enjoyed a day of Indianapolis fun and festivities to celebrate our two year wedding anniversary. I can't believe we will have been married two years on Tuesday, July 21st! It excites me to think about the rest of eternity that we have to spend together. Sigh...

Anyway, we headed out to the Indianapolis Zoo first. It was a gloomy day with a fall-like chill in the air, but when the sun came out, it was beautiful and pleasant. It was a very crowded day at the zoo, so it seemed were constantly dodging a stroller, elderly person, or small child running aimlessly. We went from animal to animal, marveling at nature's goodness...especially when we saw the walrus POOPING massive amounts of liquid poo while about thirty small children collectively exclaimed, "EW!" It was quite humorous. It made me feel like the walrus was saying, "Take that for putting me in captivity for the rest of my life!" 

Poo was the theme of the day as we also witnessed a large elephant do some colon cleansing in the Plains. So gross...yet so fascinating! A highlight for me was watching the baboons interact with each other. There were baby baboons and large baboons...they were so cute and eerily human-like. We watched them for probably 15-20 minutes and laughed the entire time.

We took in the dolphin show, which was PACKED. We found the last few seats in the place, which happened to be pretty good, about halfway up in the center. The lady behind us was not pleased with us as we took the seats right in front of them. I heard her make several comments to her children, who were not "small," "Honey, can you see around him?" That "him" being my 6' tall, 165lb skinny husband, who politely ducked his head AND turned to the side to allow for his knees not to knock the person in front of him. It got really crowded, so the announcer asked for everyone to scoot in so that more room could be made for the scads of people still trying to find seats. Well, "Selfish Susan," as I will call her, said several times that she was not going to move because she got there early so that they could sit RIGHT there! Man...were we mistaken? Was Flipper himself going to be appearing at the Indy Zoo Dolphin Show? Should we be more excited and uptight like this lady?

The dolphin show started and ended with no guest appearance by Flipper, and Selfish Susan was very disappointed. She exclaimed, "The one we saw last time was SO much better!" Man, she was a treat.

We saw lions, but no tigers or bears, oh my. I think they were in the forest part of the zoo that we didn't end up seeing. We called it quits on the zoo and headed to White River Gardens. We strolled around and marveled at the beauty. Did you know that Luke's dad, Eric Ernstberger, designed the Butterfly House and most of White River Gardens? He also designed the Ball State Bell Tower...just FYI. Anyway, after about 20 minutes of gazing at flowers, we were ready to head to the next destination of our anniversary "staycation." 

We arrived at the Indiana State Museum to take in the 3D Under the Sea IMAX. We had some time to kill, so we walked around the canal for a bit. I really love the canal. It is always so beautiful and has great energy. People like to run, walk, and ride bikes. You can even rent little water transportation thingys to use IN the canal. That's my new goal...rent a water transportation thingy and play in the canal.

Anyway, the IMAX was good. I like anything that has to do with under the sea, especially WHALES. There was one whale in this IMAX. It was narrated by Jim Carrey. I found it enjoyable, but there was a disgusting scene with sea snakes (3D sea snakes, mind you), and I had to remove my glasses and look away for a moment. It was just tooooooo realistic. 

Next stop...downtown! We arrived downtown and were greeted by the Indiana Black Expo, which meant lots of people and lots of traffic and lots of hustle and bustle. We went to Circle Center to kill some time before dinner. I wasn't in the mood for shopping, and I was really hungry and tired, so we got some $7 chocolate at Godiva and called it quits on the mall. We went to the monument and witnessed a bridal party getting wedding photos taken. Every single person that spilled out of the party bus was wasted, despite their tuxes and beautiful gowns. I kind of felt sorry for the bride. She looked annoyed.

We needed to change clothes for dinner and had no place to do it, so we changed in our car! It was kind of funny...but it worked out! Then, it was finally time for dinner. We dined at Fogo de Chao for the first time, which was AAAAAAAAAAMAZING! I don't know how else to describe it. The atmosphere -- dark wood, nice lighting, wine bottles, lots of people. It is a Brazilian steakhouse where they bring you unlimited cuts of 15 different meats. You turn a little card on your table from red to green when you want more meat. When you want to take a break, you turn it to red. They have unlimited salad, polenta, mashed potatoes, plantains, and cheesy bread (to die for). The waiters actually pulled my chair out for me. They refilled my water when it was only 3/4 full. They presented us with clean plates without having to ask. Luke actually timed how long it took for us to turn our cards to green and get a fresh cut of meat. Three seconds. THREE seconds and hoards of waiters were at our service presenting us with filet mignon, top sirlon, lamb, pork, chicken, etc, etc. It was sooooo good! We even ordered turtle cheesecake, and it was divine. 

By the time we pried ourselves away from the table, we were stuffed. Painfully stuffed. It was just a glorious way to end a great day. It was an expensive dinner, but well worth it. I think it will become our  new, once a year, celebration place! 

Happy Two Years to my babe!