Friday, July 01, 2005

Happy Birthday to You

It's Tegan's birthday. She has grown up quite a bit since this photo was taken. But I still say you can see lots of Ruth in this little girl's face.

I have always known that marrying Tegan was the best decision I ever made and will ever make. And the best thing of all is that I have never doubted that choice a single time. And this comes from a person famous for second-guessing most every important choice I have ever made. But joining my life with her's was never up for debate.

We met in college. I was a sophomore and she was a freshman. We were both members of the Georgia Southern University Bell Honors Program--a scholarship program that selected a maximum of 18 students each year, kept each year's class together in special classes that were run like graduate school seminars. Each new group grew to become great friends or soon got tired of one another. And, each year's class had a built in group of friends, allies, mentors, potential apartment roomies, in the classes above and below them. When the new school year started, the upperclassmen would throw a welcoming party for the new group of freshmen. It was held at Honors House, an on-campus house dedicated for the BHPs use. I and my roommate Rampant Fox were the two students that lived at Honors House.

I still can't tell you why, but something about Tegan captivated me the first night I saw her. I talked to her most of the night, along with a couple of my friends. I was polite and brought her water to drink. Most other people were drinking, of course, but she wasn't interested and I wasn't either at that time. So, I brought her Coke to drink. (She later confessed to me that she worried that I was spiking her drink while in the kitchen.)

We were in different classes, but we saw each other a lot, walking between buildings. We soon ate lunches and dinners together and she often came over to Honors House to study, use the computers to write papers, and do laundry.

At first we were just friends and I can't tell you how and when, but I knew that things were different with her. I think my family knew something was different when I came home for Thanksgiving that year and spent a great deal of time being depressed and silent.

We've rarely been apart for any serious length of time since--except of course for that three weeks at Christmas when I was in Hawaii. (She still hasn't forgiven me for going and leaving her behind.)

We've been through a lot together, so much of it good and only some things bad. We've been very lucky over the years (blessed with wonderful family and equally wonderful friends), but we've also worked pretty hard to create the life that we now enjoy. I wouldn't want to significantly change the life that I have now, and so much of the reason for that is due to Tegan. She has made my life better, richer, more meaningful.

So, Happy Birthday T.
I love you.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ain't he just the sweetest thang!
--T