Our Stats- In Honor of V-Day

Yes, that is the "sweeheart" ribeye we had for our Valentine's dinner. Aside from being cute and a bargain at only $9.99, it was delicious! Steak is a rarity at the casa, but we do enjoy the occassional slab o' beef.

The official day of love had me thinking about our stats. Here's the Joe and Sarah run down:


8 years and 10 months. How long we've known each other.


4 years and 8 months. How long we've been married.


20 years and 8 mos. Joe's age when he met Sarah.


19 years and 4 mos. Sarah's age when she met Joe.



Oh my gosh, we were so young when we met! Here's our story if you haven't already heard. It was fate. Sigh.


I was living in the Jester dormitory at UT and Joe was stationed at Ft. Hood in the Army. We met on a blind date set up by my roomie and Killeen native, Amber. She'd met a GI in a bookstore and they were planning a date in Austin. She asked him to bring a friend for me to make it a double date. I interviewed my potential suitors over the phone. Having the choice between Joe and some sweet Georgia boy (I am a sucker for an accent),I picked Joe because...well, he had wheels and I was told he was more fun. I later learned that the other guy was wearing Realtree overalls, sans shirt. Nice. lol

We went to Pappadeaux's on our first "date." I use quotes because he only thought he was coming to Austin to party with some college girls and hang out. In fact, he'd only ventured on to the military post that day to locate someone to buy "beverages" for a party and Aiden, Amber's date, was merely an acquaintance of his. But being fun-loving and adventurous, Joe agreed to go to Austin that night. He was caught a bit off guard when dinner was brought up and secretly panicked when Amber chose Pappadeaux's. He had to borrow some cash from Aiden to pay for our dinner (unbeknownst to me). He held my hand in the car on the way to the movie that night. :) We saw Rocky Horror Picture Show...and Joe was a good sport even though he hates that movie.

We've survived: several years of long distance dating (he moved back home to Florida after he got out of the Army while I finished college), a couple of pre-engagement break ups, a few stressful stints in Kuwait and Iraq, and several relocations. We've stuck it out, feast or famine and have created a pretty good life for ourselves.

From time to time our idiosyncrasies simply become annoying, responsibilities become overwhelming, but we deal with it all in stride.

That's us in March 2002, right after he returned from Kuwait. So old I had to scan it. Yes, my hair was really curly and in a ponytail. Speaking of things that have been with me for a while, I still have that shirt, too. I had it before I met Joe! That clock? Can now found in my classroom. I hang on to the good stuff. :)