fifty-two projects | project nineteen

this is project nineteen of fifty-two projects. for more completed projects, click here.

project nineteen | write down the story of the best night of your life...more along the lines of past events that aren't so easily identified.

alterations | this is not so much a series of events within one night, as it is a very precise, very embarrassing moment that i feel changed my life completely and sent it in a wonderful direction. and to get technical - it was really more early evening rather that "night."

on march thirteenth, two thousand and five, i called my husband. except that he wasn't my husband yet - far from it. he and i had come from the same home town and had worked in the same mall together. for years we flirted, we fussed, we fought, we never even really dated - unless you count that time he made me cry and then took me to a movie.

but after all that, a week before march thirteenth, my best friend told me that he'd been asking about me. it had been months since he and i had talked - a conscious decision on my behalf because he wasn't "ready yet."

after she'd told me that however, i couldn't stop thinking about him. so i called him. and i invited him to come visit me at my university. he wavered, but he sounded like he wanted to come. i said "how about tomorrow night? he said he that he had to be in bed early because he was traveling for work tuesday morning. i said "how about tuesday?" and he said "i won't be back from my trip yet." and so i nervously suggested "wednesday?" and he said he had a prior commitment. i paused, took a deep breath and, feeling like a fool i offered "thursday night?" he said he had to work late. i knew i should stop that this point. i could hear my mother's voice in my head saying "katie, don't chase boys. let them chase you." but i couldn't help it...with a profound sense of sadness and exasperation evident in my voice i took one last chance and said "how about friday night? if you work late you can come here afterwards." i wanted to die inside i was so embarrassed at my own desperation.

i think right at that moment we could both feel the significance that his answer held. i feel as though we both knew, on some deep level that if he said no, that would be it forever. we would be finished and i would never get up the guts to try again. on the other hand, his saying yes would mean that our relationship would finally begin.

he said yes.

and for the last six years, we have celebrated our anniversary on march eighteenth.