What if I had never called that day?

Now that I’ve told you the story of how our daughter was born, it’s only right that I share how my husband and I met.

Our 6 year anniversary was last weekend, but we’ve known each other for over 13 years.

It all started back in 1995 when my friend and I went over to her friend’s house. Mind you, I was all of 15 back then.

Her friend happened to be on the phone with a guy who later turned out to be my husband’s cousin.

So, she hands the phone to my friend and they start to talk. He “liked the sound of her voice” and they exchanged numbers.

It’s important to note that we lived about 20 miles away from each other, on total opposite ends of the city. When you’re 15, without a car or license, this becomes a challenge.

My friend and I call this guy one day on a three-way call. I don’t know if you remember how silly you can be when you’re 15. But, you do things like that.

Well, he wasn’t home. And who answered the phone instead?

A guy that would 8 years later become my husband.

Since his cousin was not home, we started talking to him.

And then my friend had to hang up. So, it was just him and I talking. And now we exchanged numbers.

What I didn’t know was happening on the other end, is that while my friend and I innocently thought we had met some new friends, my husband’s cousin had convinced him to talk to me. Cause you know, “if you talk to her while I try to talk to her friend, it might help my chances.”

Or something like that. I don’t know, boys are weird. This is just what I find out years later.

Yeah, so we exchange numbers and now we begin to talk on a regular basis.

We talk on the phone for about 6 months before we decide to meet each other in person. And even then, it was totally just a friend thing. We got to know each other pretty well and although he had a slight idea of what I looked like based on a picture I mailed him, I had *no clue* what he looked like.

We meet each other at a local mall that was mid-way and hang out for a bit at the arcade.

And then, we part ways…

We continue the phone conversations for the rest of 1996. We finally figure we should probably do something about this and meet each other again in person later that year. We’ve now known each other a year.

Our “relationship” (if you can call it that at the age of 16), lasts a few more months before we break up. You know, officially. It’s now 1997.

We don’t talk for about 5 months or so. It gets hard to remember exactly.

One day, out of the blue, I decide to give him a call. And he’s actually home.

I don’t know why I called. Maybe I missed him. But, it got us talking again.

By now, though, I not only have a license, I own a car.

So, now I can actually go visit him all the way on the other side of town…often.

I am also a senior in high school at this point and was going to school half-day only since I had extra credits. This gave me time to go to school, drive all the way across town, and meet him in time for when he got out of school.

Yup, the stupid things you do when you’re *in love*. Or in like. [insert huge eye roll here]

From 1997 through 1999, we hung out…a lot. We didn’t really call each other boyfriend/girlfriend, but we were.

Then, when he graduated high school, he moved to South Florida. We spent about 6/7 months doing the long-distance relationship thing before I transferred colleges and moved to South Florida also.

:sigh:

College. Graduate college. Move back to Orlando. Get married.

That pretty much sums up the next 2-3 years.

And there you have it. How the husband and I met, and then some.

To this day, I wonder….”What if I had never called that day?”

Would we have ever gotten back together?