The day I met you I had no idea what the future held.  I didn’t know you would be my best friend for life or that God would send us on the best adventures together.  I had no idea that we would struggle so much financially in the first few years of our marriage, or that we would come together so fiercely to overcome those struggles.

I did know a few things, though.  I had a bit of a list of things that I thought might describe my future husband.

• I wanted a guy that was brave.  A hero type that wanted to join the military, but for some crazy reason wasn’t able to because I didn’t want to bear the thought of danger or deployments.  Turns out, you tried, but those huge scars across your stomach meant you couldn’t.
• I thought Toyota Tacoma’s were hot, so my future husband would probably be driving one.  We won’t dissect my thought process– I was only in high school.  But let’s just say that Josh Fowler owned a Toyota Tacoma the day we got married.
• I wanted a guy who loved God.  Someone who I wouldn’t have to drag to church on Sundays.  Someone who loved God more than he loved me.  Because I knew if he loved God that much, then he would always honor and cherish me.  It gives me chills to think back to that.  This is by far the most defining and sexy thing about my husband.  It leaves me speechless.

Thirteen years ago today I met you at the mall.  I later found out you were only there because someone didn’t show up for work so you had to stay late that day.  You were a little annoyed because you were supposed to be at church that day.  You’d quit smoking a few months before, and that’s also when you’d started going back to church.  We chatted about how your grandmother grew up on Balsam, and I grew up on the other side of that mountain.  I was in high school and you were planning on going to seminary.

I’m thankful for the day we met.  I smile when I think about how I was daydreaming at the restaurant afterwards.  My friend Randi said, “Susan, don’t worry.  He’ll call, you guys will get married and have lots of babies.”  She is, after all, the one who suggested I give you my number… and then delivered my number when I was too shy to do it myself!

All I wanted in life was to be joyful and spend time with my family.  I thought that meant being a teacher in my hometown and seeing my entire family every week for Sunday dinner.  I would have been completely thrilled with that life, but God had different plans.

I had no idea how rich my life would be because I met you.  Because we took chance after chance together.  Because we still take chances together.

Next month we’ll celebrate 11 years of marriage, but I love that every year we look forward to the day we met
more than our actual anniversary.  Our wedding date sealed the deal, but our love story started on April 13, 2004 when we were just two teenagers talking in a mall.