It was twenty years ago today that I was walking through the lounge in Baker Hall at SOU and started a conversation that would span these decades with someone who would prove to be my best friend and soul mate and as good love stories often do, it all began with poetry. You see there was a poetry reading that night in the SU and I had been searching for a friend to go with me, but everyone I knew had other plans. So I took a deep breath, gathered my wits and asked Jason if he would come along with me. He said yes.

To be fair, he and I had been watching each other for weeks. I saw this guy who wore "John Lennon" style sunglasses and was kind to Jorge my "shhh don't tell anyone because he is illegal" stray cat buddy who hung around the dorms. He thought I was stuck up but was intrigued by my door (which I must say was a work of art and was full of oddly interesting pictures, photos, words and even a great clipping of Ronald Reagan getting on a plane waving happily at the crowd, post brain surgery while Nancy stood behind him looking horrified, and on the bottom of that my friend Pammy had written "Win one for the gipper", so I kind of owe her a bit of gratitude for the small part she played in all of this too). There was, I guess some bit of cosmic electricity between us even from the very beginning.

Twenty years? How is that possible?

Neither of us remember all that much about the poetry reading itself other than Sharon Doubiago was headlining. He remembers talking a lot. I remember listening. I suppose we still balance one another like that. He learned that the arrogance he thought he saw was actually shyness. I learned that he cared a lot about his grandparents (who are really my own now after all these years) and was passionate about photography. I'm certain that we laughed quite a bit.

Fast forward through four, count 'em four kids, births, death, the most incredible lives that we share. More laughter, tears, the day to day minutia that make up a life and all of the moments that really matter with me feeling so incredibly lucky that I get to have this man by my side. That he is my friend, my husband, sometimes the only one in the room who gets my jokes and at the end of the day even through all of the messy stuff, there is this love between us. Love that goes on and on through twenty plus years. Love that I know will span this lifetime and beyond. Lucky. Me. Him. This family.

This is what I know about time. When you aren't having fun it can drag on like it probably did when you were in seventh grade. Good times pass quickly. Summer vacations seem to be over in minutes. Each of our childrens first years were over in the blink of an eye as we tried to hang on to the miraculous wonder of it all. Despite how much we wish we could slow time down, we know that the best tools in our bag of tricks are our minds, our ability to pay attention and to appreciate the "everyday" days. I'm pretty certain that the next twenty years will pass just as fast, Jason as long as I am spending them with you.

We are always a work in progress and the rest of the story is still being written. I'm grateful.