7 years ago today...

... Aaron called me as I was getting ready for bed and asked me if I would go to prom with him that spring. That was our beginning.

This photo is from our senior prom, a year later. My hands are red from taking pictures outside in the cold. I felt pretty and happy.

A friend did my hair for our junior prom, winding it into coils. I wore slimming undergarments. Everything felt tight, new, exciting. The next spring, I slipped into my dress and ballet flats and pinned my hair up with a couple of bobby pins. I felt more like me, and we felt more like us - in many ways still new to each other, but also comfortable and familiar.

And here we are, seven years later, graduates of high school, of college, of a long distance relationship. Happy, married, and looking forward to the next seven years and all the years after.

I love you, honey. Forever and for always, because you are my dear one.