For your birthday: A walk down memory lane.

Warning! This is pretty mushy stuff!

Today is Casey's 26th birthday. It's hard to believe that the first time I ever hung out with Casey, he was barely 16. 10 years ago tomorrow, Casey and I hung out together for the first time. Please join me as I take a little walk down memory lane.

From my journal that night (Jan. 19, 2001):

"Casey is cute!!! He is hot! But he's also a player, I could be interested, but mmmm-I don't know. He is funny and he does fun stuff, no matter who's there. He can do a very weird thing with his tongue and he has perfect teeth!!! He also plays the piano! WoW! But who knows...."

Isn't it funny what our first impressions are? I had a little "crush" on him right from the get-go, and it never went away. I remember the first time I saw Casey. I remember the first time we hung out. I remember dating other guys and still really liking Casey. He was my best friend all through high school and when I had dating problems or questions, I talked to Casey about it, and he talked to me. We would call each other in the middle of the night, just to talk. We would sit in the parking lot after school with our friends, just talking. And we would hang out every weekend. We had a big party when he left on his mission, and I shook his hand when we said goodbye, then I cried in the car all the way home. We wrote each other on his mission and just got closer and closer. I realized that when I was dating other guys, I wanted to be dating Casey. Writing him on his mission was awesome. He was 2000 miles away, and still made me feel so happy. As we wrote, we grew closer and closer.

From an email Elder Dalpias wrote to me March 16, 2005:

"It is going to be fun when we can actually all hang out together! I am pretty stinkin excited for stuff like that. In fact, I am excited about a lot of things in the future. There isn't anything that could make things better right now. I am where I am supposed to be, trying to grow up a little so that I'm not a goofup in life, and I have the best friend ever back at home supporting me being awesome. I really do love you Natalie. You are the part oft he future that I look forward to the most. Us hanging out, being best friends, calling you at all hours of the night, and maybe one day.... even holding your hand or something like that. We have got some really great things ahead of us! It is going to be awesome! It is awesome! I just love ya, a whole stinkin lot!"

When Casey got home from his mission, we did all of the things we had talked about. We stayed up late talking to each other, we went on some dates, and we even held hands! There is nothing better than falling in love with your best friend. Everything was as wonderful as we thought it would be.

Now we're living real life. Work, kids, and even a minivan.... It's not a dream we're just talking about anymore. We're living the life we wanted. Of course everything isn't perfect all the time, but we are happy together. I'm so glad I met Casey 10 years ago. He is all I could have ever hoped for. I'm so grateful every day that I haven't stopped falling in love with my best friend.

Happy birthday, Casey Michael Dalpias. I love you with all of my heart.