February 8th, 2003…the night we got engaged. Three weeks after our first date. 🙂

My first desk as a teacher…clearly a disaster. It’s nice to see that I’m still consistent. 🙂

My mom, a customer, and I in front of Café Au Lait.

My Lawrenceville apartment…July 2002.

Oscar….my ferocious house cat and travel “companion.”

In honor of our ten year anniversary, and at the risk of being cliché or sharing too much, I decided to chronicle a bit of our story…

I moved to Atlanta for my first teaching job in the summer of 2002, immediately after my graduation from Millikin University in Illinois.  I was eager to create my own life in a new place, but this was a huge decision and I didn’t know a soul south of the Mason-Dixon line.  I rented an apartment in Lawrenceville and signed a contract as a teacher and coach at Apalachee High School in Winder.  I wasn’t exactly adept at driving in more than two lanes of traffic and ended up totaling my car one rainy fall day in the chaos of Atlanta traffic.  My teacher salary wasn’t covering my bills as it was, and adding a car to the list meant a second job. A few days later I started working nights and weekends at Café Au Lait, a coffee shop across the street from my apartment complex, and consequently next door to the Lawrenceville Target store.  Little did I know that totaling that sea-foam green Toyota Tercel would be the best thing that ever happened to me.

I juggled my three preps at school, coached tennis and cheerleading and worked 6 days a week at the café that semester; I was ecstatic for Christmas break and couldn’t wait to road-trip it back to Illinois with my cat Oscar, my trusty travel companion.  I was alone at the counter one December night, working the closing shift and day dreaming about the holidays when Nicholas and his entourage came in for drinks before the midnight showing of Lord of the Rings.  His friend Leanne (and ironically former girlfriend) walked up first, got comfortable at the counter and immediately began playing 20 questions, essentially vetting me for Nicholas.  He soon followed, tall dark and handsome, ordered his Mint Bon-Bon Latte, and smoothly offered to “show me around” since Leanne told him I was new in town.  I remember giggling excessively and chiding myself for being nervous and acting childish.  I had met my share of crazies in the café, and was used to giving fake numbers and praying they wouldn’t come back in.  This time was different, of course, as I gave out my actual phone number to a complete stranger who I secretly hoped would call.

He did call–soon.  I told him I would be out of town for a few weeks for the holidays and we’d talk when I got home; as excited as I was, I couldn’t quite see past my reprieve at home, and it was too soon to even mention his name.  I drove 12 hours home with Oscar in tow, and I remember amidst the excessive food and strewn wrapping paper my family’s constant teasing about not dating anyone. I distinctly remember shutting down their comments by recounting my busy work schedule and specifically telling my sister in law Bonnie that I never planned to get married anyway…

The second week of January I drove back to Atlanta, Nicholas and I had our first date, and 3 weeks later I had a diamond ring on my finger.  Our three weeks of dating was fast and furious and my family and most of my friends didn’t even know I was dating someone…but that’s another story. There’s so much to tell.