August 14, 1999...

On this date, 10 years ago, I married the only man I ever dated; the only man I ever said "I love you" to (besides my dad).

When I transferred to Bethel College (now University), I never thought I would meet my husband to be. I figured I would be single for a while. Boys weren't interested in me in high school, and I wasn't too interested in them either.

So, there I was. My roommate and one of my best friends, Juli, and I went to the transfer students "welcome week". My group had 2 people in it, so our "leader" decided to merge us with another small group. Enter Ryan Mahlberg. I made small talk with him and the others in our group. He was a BioChemistry major at the time (later changed to just Chemistry), and I was pre-med Biology. We were together for the remainder of that time, but honestly, I thought he was interested in Juli.

We hung out off and on the first week, eating dinner together- our own little group of transfer students. I got a job driving the schools' shuttle bus on Saturday nights. On my first Saturday night, Ryan came out and asked me if I wanted to go see a movie with him and his roommate and another girl when I got off. I said sure. We went to see Conspiracy Theory. Every Saturday night after that, Ryan would pick me up after work and give me a ride back to Fountain Terrace (sounds like an old folks home, doesn't it?). Juli, Ryan and I would hang out and watch The Pretender and Profiler- Ryan's roommate had a TV and Ryan taped them so we could watch them.

I knew that I liked Ryan, but he was so serious about school. He studied constantly. On Saturday's he would be at the school as soon as it was open and would study all day until he picked me up at the end of my shift. Could he be a bigger nerd?

Skip ahead to January. I had done J-term classes, and Ryan was a TA. I'll be honest, I used him for a ride home, because I really wanted to go home. I had the intention of breaking up with him after we got back to Bethel. Did that happen? No. Back home, we took Ryan bowling and introduced him to the rest of my close friends. All of a sudden, there was a different Ryan. A Ryan that knew how to have fun and his personality came out.

Skip ahead again to the summer. Ryan went back home to Pennsylvania, and I went home to do summer school. Ryan drove out and proposed to me. I, of course, said yes. We spent the next school year, helping to plan our wedding, which would take place after we graduated.

August is usually a very humid and hot month. The church we were being married in didn't have air conditioning. The night before our wedding the temperature dropped into the 50's, and the prediction for the next day's weather was in the low 70's. And it was. It was the perfect day. My best friends stood up for me. My childhood babysitter sang, "If You Could See What I See" by Geoff Moore. We had our first dance to our song, "Truly, Madly, Deeply" by Savage Garden (whatever happened to them?).

Once upon a time, a boy met a girl. They fell in love, had 2 children, and lived happily ever after.

Happy 10 year anniversary, Ryan! I love you more and more each day!