Day 3: First Love

First Love...

When I first thought about my answer I immediately thought Dane. I can't imagine comparing the way I feel about Dane to any of the silly relationships I had in middle school. Did you have those? Those 1 week, maybe a few months if you were "serious" relationships? I did. Lots of them. And I remember telling a few "Love you" as we got off the phone. Garrett, Michael, Logan... I remember. But I also know that although I cared about them, my little 13 year old heart had no clue what love really is.

I met Dane in eighth grade (he was a sophomore) when he came to help the Schilling Farms director with our production of Annie. We met when he and another assistant found out that Daddy Warbucks and Annie were crushing on each other. So, our love story begins with a matchmaker story. Dane and his friend played matchmaker for Logan and me. Funny, huh?

Flash-forward a year and I'm now a freshman. Youth pastors put together this city wide youth revival called Synergy... and both Dane's and my church were involved. We met again and I immediately fell... hard. My friends never heard the end of it. They would help me come up with ways to run into him. I remember them coming over before the Christmas parade and waiting as I changed clothes umpteen times because we were planning on meeting up with Dane. It is really hard to dress cute when its really cold by the way. But they convinced me I looked okay and we trekked out to meet him. He ended up giving me a ride home that night and I think that's when he actually started to like me too. He asked me out on our first date in January 2004. :)

There's lot of funny stories I could tell but I'll save them for other days, but I've said all this to say I don't believe in love at first sight. Not very romantic, huh? I think it is. Love takes so much more than a look. It has to grow. Its the nervousness before the first date. Its the first time you hold hands. The first time you laugh til you cry. The first time you kiss. The first time he sees you cry. Its when you know you can tell him anything in the world and it'll be okay. Love is so much more than a look. Its also a choice. It means choosing to be with someone despite any of their faults or your own. Love means fighting. Fighting about dumb things, fighting about important things... and fighting to stay together. Love is hard, but love is worth it.

So to end, I thought I'd share my vows that I wrote for our wedding. It is my goal in life to live up to the promises I made.

I, Kelsey, take you Dane, to be my husband. I promise to be patient and kind, to not envy your successes or be too proud to admit my failures. I promise to not demand my own way and to keep no record of being wronged. I promise to never give up and to always be faithful. I promise these things because I love you and my love for you will endure through every circumstance.