To My Valentine...

Darling...
Do you remember where it all began for us? I'm wondering if you think that it was that moment when my sister and I walked into that room filled with college kids who were seeking to further their relationships with Christ (and perhaps, find other sorts of relationships as well?). You may even be thinking that it was at that moment when you turned your head to see who had arrived so late to the meeting (because I'd never been there before and because "late" was, even then, one of my  spiritual gifts) and our eyes met for the very first time.

You may even imagine that it began in front of this building...

...on that very sidewalk when we kept "happening" to run into each other. (If only you knew the hours I spent figuring out just when you'd pass by...)

Perhaps, you might guess, it was at that football game where we sipped hot chocolate in the snow while our parents watched us through binoculars from the other side of the stadium.
Those were all excellent moments, I cherish each one, but none marked the beginning of us quite like this did...

...this tiny little piece of paper.

 It wasn't much more than the top margin of your notebook paper, probably torn from your accounting notes, where you scratched out your intentions in your own tiny font and in so doing you created the moment from which I mark the beginning of us.  

I wonder if you remember writing this note to me while I sat beside you in the commons area pretending to study. Do you remember what it said? You used words like "happy" and "love" and "secret" and "Gretchen" and it was the most honest and sincere three inches of paper I had ever received. 

It still makes me smile each time I unfold it and read it, though now I need glasses to do so. I grin when I think about how many times you folded that already small piece of paper before you handed it to me. I still keep it folded just that way. 

Do you wonder where I keep it so that it is safe from the four little us's?

I keep it tucked away in a photo album that holds pictures of a much younger us ...

...right behind this picture...

I don't remember what we were laughing about then, 

but I'm so glad that we've been laughing together ever since.  

Babe, 

 I'm so glad you are my Valentine. 

I'm so glad you are my Man. 

I'm so glad I get to be married to you

and...

I'm so glad you wrote that note!

~I Love You~

Gretchen


Below is the new song for the aging US!