Eleven Roses for...

eleven Valentine's Days spent together.

I still remember our first Valentine's Day like it was yesterday. A nervous, sixteen year old young man was standing at my parents' doorstep with red roses in hand waiting to take me out to breakfast before school started. I was pretty nervous as well, especially since it was basically our first "real" date. We had hung out in groups, but we hadn't gone on a single date, just to the two of us at that point.

Breakfast was served and followed by a long day at school. I rushed off to go back home to prepare for our date later that night. John picked me up and took me to Mister C's for dinner, a local restaurant that sadly just closed recently after 54 years of business. Needless to say, I felt spoiled. By the end of our date he had also given me a little heart-shaped ruby necklace. At that point, I felt like a princess. And I still do.

This Valentine's Day we woke up early for a bus trip to head to eastern Germany for a basketball game. I was woken up promptly with a good morning kiss and before I even had a chance to roll out of bed John ran to the other room and returned with these:



I laid there thinking, this is way better than it was ten years ago. I might be sitting on a bus the entire day with a bunch of guys, but our love is so much stronger than it has ever been. We made frosted sugar cookies the night before to pass out to his teammates, and bought some treats with us to take on the trip. On Monday we headed to Dortmund to sit and dream in Starbucks and to look through a bigger baby store as well. Last night we went out for an Italian dinner and chatted away through the delicious meal and the mint tea that followed. As we sat there watching some young girls dressed up for Karneval playing with their puppy, I couldn't help but to think of what a great father John will be. Every year just gets better and better. I have more than I could have ever dreamed of ten years ago.

(For pictures from the game go here. You can even see me cheering in the midst of the fans dressed up for Karneval. And yes, those silly drums were so loud that they were vibrating my seat. I am pretty sure our little baby was wondering what in the world was going on!)