Happy Faces

August 1990

I originally had something else in mind for Throwback Thursday, but in my quest to find a certain photo, I came across this one. The date on the back reads August 1990. When I saw it, I knew I wanted it to be in my post today.

We'd been dating a few months shy of two years when this was taken.

What strikes me is how happy we look together. And when I looked at the picture, I thought to myself, "Look at these kids…so wonderfully and naively in love! They have no idea what joy and sadness and adventure and tragedy they'll face over the next 30 or so years."

And then I thought, "I still love that guy THAT much."

More, actually, although my 17-year old heart did not think it possible at the time.

There are times when I am not particularly easy to love. I derive great pleasure from correcting people's grammar. I'm far too long-winded when telling a story. I'm not really a good sport about losing at a board game. I'm ridiculously sentimental about stuff and remind people of dates/events and feel irritated that they didn't recall them on their own. And these are only the unpleasant habits I'm willing to publicly admit! Believe me, there are plenty of others.

But despite my shortcomings, I somehow managed to find the one person in the world who would not only tolerate those things, but ardently embrace them. In some ways, we are very similar – politics, religion, world views, sense of humor, taste in movies/music/TV shows, desire to see the world, etc. In other ways, we could not be more different. I'm emotional and he's logical. He likes schedules and routines and I do not. He's a pros-and-cons-list person and I make decisions based on my feelings. He never procrastinates and I always procrastinate. My head is usually in the clouds and his feet are planted firmly on the ground.

Somehow, it works perfectly.

I'm so glad I happened upon this picture today. I was feeling pretty emotional about yesterday's post and seeing these happy, hopeful faces made my day.

Just for fun, I thought I'd share two other throwback pictures – one I may have shared before in another post, and one from our wedding day. We were so young!

August 1992

December 1994

Happy Tails to you!