Remembering

Hey.

Yesterday I read something that got me thinking about remembering. More specifically, remembering the early days of dating the mister. (I know, you're probably sick of hearing those stories, so I won't go full-fledged story teller on you.) I will, however, list some things, more for me than you, because I don't want to forget. (Jered, I know how you feel when I post sappy stuff, so you should probably just skip this letter.)

Ok. Maybe I lied... just super short stories for some of these, I promise!

The first of many times that Jered made me laugh so hard I cried was on our second group activity together.  We went out for milkshakes, and when we got back to TIU, Jered attempted to climb out of the back of Mariah's two-door, I'm assuming tripped over the seat belt, and fell out onto the parking lot, two drinks in hand, without spilling them. You guys, he full. out. fell. on. the. ground.  (In true Aimee fashion, I spit milkshake everywhere.)  Now, that's all hilarious, but the important part of this experience is when he stood up, still holding the milkshakes steady, he said, "Obviously I was blessed with grace."  And I thought, witty, confident, not dying of embarrassment right now. Wow. For the rest of the evening, I spontaneously burst into giggles, watching it replay in my mind over and over, and Mariah and I nicknamed him Grace.

Jered and I go back and forth, haggling about which outing qualifies as our first date.  Was it the trip to Walmart or the evening at Starbucks? The night after the milkshake incident, he asked me to go to Walmart with him because he needed to pick up a few things.  We took five minutes to deliberate on whether or not he needed medium or large undershirts, I helped him by smelling and choosing deodorant, and we picked up some car air freshener because his car smelled like a gym bag.

The Starbucks date was a second choice due to monsoon season in Chicago. (We had planned to go to the beach, but it poured non-stop all day.) The whole day I was a nervous, excited wreck. I remember sharing my excitement with Mallory and Whitney in band. It was a fantastic date- he was so easy to talk to.

Our first beach date was after he came back from an away game. He wore basketball shorts, tall socks, and short converse. Adorable. While sitting on the rocks by the water, he freaked out suddenly because he felt a spider crawling up his leg. (I may have known I loved him at that moment.)

One day after lunch, Ashley, Mariah, and I stopped to talk outside Melton.  Jered said goodbye and walked to Madsen.  He walked around the corner, but came back.  He was wearing a navy blue t-shirt with the sleeves cut off.  I think there was a tiger on it.  He walked right back up to us, leaned in, and whispered in my ear, "You look really pretty today," and just strolled away again.

We would take my ipod to the beach with us and share the earbuds to listen to music together. We listened to James Blunt's You're Beautiful, a song I had never cared for, and looked at each other in shock when we heard the unedited version for the first time.

The girls and I went out dancing one night. When Ashley and I came back to our room, I found a note, flowers picked from a bush on campus, my favorite candies to snack on during the next day's football game, and my ipod was ready to play.  When I turned it on, the words, "You're beautiful" played instantly.  Ever since that night, that song hasn't seemed so bad. Instead it brings a smile and loads of memories.

I gave Jered my favorite t-shirt to wear under his football pads for games... and haven't seen it since. I'm fairly certain it was demolished.

One time we got in an ice cream fight on our way back from dinner.  His green dress shirt and my yellow hoodie were stained with chocolate ice cream for quite a while.

I forced Jered to go to a Halloween party with me and dressed up as him.

When we were first dating, he could barely grow a moustache.

 

Sorry for this blurry pic- 

it's an oldie from my phone.

He was adorable, and flighty, and silly after his concussion.

The only spirit day I ever saw him dress up for was a country day. He wore this faded, red cut-off shirt with one strapped overalls.

 

He would go out of his way to walk me to classes.

Over Christmas break during our first year dating, we drove up to Chicago because he had gotten us tickets to see Grease, and drove back in a terrific snow storm.

We always did homework together in Johnson Hall. He would come over, freshly showered after football practice. One time I leaned on his shoulder, and got a whiff of some stink that he missed in his armpits.  Stupidly I mentioned it. He looked at me in indignation and disbelief, left me sitting there, ran back to his dorm to shower again, and came back.

During that first Christmas break, when Jered came to visit, he let all his quirkiness show. My family was sitting in the living room when he went in to take a shower, and heard loud techno music playing and Jered pounding the walls along with the music. Dad was nervous that he was stomping and would crack the shower floor.

He used to turn around during football games, while the offense was playing and he was on the sideline, and wink and smile at me.

 

He always used to wear his keys around his neck on a shoestring, so he would jingle a little when he walked.  

He would surprise me by visiting every once in a while. (Before we were married, the majority of our relationship was spent over long distance.) I remember shopping at Old Navy in Peoria once, and he came up and hugged me from behind. After the fear of abduction evaporated, it was a wonderful moment.

Well guys, sorry for the influx of sappy, but I was ready for a stroll down memory lane. These were just a few things I don't want to allow myself to forget. The wonderful beginning.

Talk to you later,

Aim