Kids, I’m going to tell you an incredible story… the story of how I met your father. Why have I decided to do this, you ask? Well, because I like to think our story is pretty amazing, and it’s almost Father’s Day so it seemed like a fun idea.
The beginning
The story begins in the year 1998. I know, right? Ages ago! It was January of 1999 when I first walked into Professor Mariante’s sociology class (a class I can never correctly recall the name of — something about developing worlds). I was a freshman in college, and your father was a junior. The class fulfilled a sociology requirement for all majors, and by pure coincidence, we both wound up in this one.
I noticed your father right away. He was handsome, smart, funny, and talented. You see, this guy was a biology and chemistry double major, and he also DJed for the college radio station and at parties! But we didn’t become fast friends or anything. We shared a class and we sometimes saw each other at parties around campus. He told me years later that he noticed me right away, too, and thought I was cute. But I had no idea back then.
Over the next two years — leading up to your father’s graduation in 2000 — we flirted once or twice and hung out a few times, but that was it. We did not date (of this I’m glad, kids — it would NOT have worked out). I do recall, though, having told a friend of mine that I had a “top 3” list of guys from college that I could see myself ending up with, and your father was on that list. We will not discuss who else was on it.
The messy middle
Your father and I would end up seeing each other two times between 2000 and 2004. The second time, in 2002, we would spend a significant amount of time talking outside a party that we had both attended with different people. And then, nothing. Until fate, by way of AOL Instant Messenger, also known as “AIM,” would bring us back into each other’s lives in the summer of 2004, as I prepared to return to Boston to attend law school — at the same university where your father was getting his master’s in chemistry! Yes, kids, your father and I have the same two alma maters for undergraduate and graduate school. If you do not think our ending up together was meant to be, well that’s because I’m keeping this as short as I can and you’re not getting the whole story (yet).
When we reconnected that summer of 2004 via AIM, we made plans to meet up once I started law school in the fall. We did just that, and soon enough your father was coming over to visit me once a week after his evening class, and during these visits we managed to watch all ten seasons of “Friends” on a portable DVD player (oh yeah!) because I did not own a TV.
The rest of our lives and beyond
While some of my classmates were finding themselves ending relationships due to the stress of law school, I found myself falling in love with the man who would become my husband four years later. And it’s been such a great adventure, kids! Your father and I have written our own story. We have done things our way each step of the way. We have shared values but have also taught each other so much that has shaped our values as a couple. We are far from perfect individuals, and we do not always get it right when it comes to showing each other our unconditional love. But we continue to learn and grow together, and, in turn, our love and commitment to one another grow as well.
On our wedding day I told your father I believed God chose him for me, even if I would like to think I chose him for myself. And to this day, I still firmly believe this, especially after having been blessed with the two of you. I look forward to continuing to show you two what unconditional, imperfect love looks like. And I pray we can be a good example for both of you so that you might write your own life stories, exactly the way that feels right to you!
Now go wish your dad a happy Father’s Day and do something nice for him, OK?
