and baby makes 6!

I am thinking that these pictures were probably taken within the same year. I must be 4? Pam, you might have to help me on that one. Bill is maybe 11? 12?

It seems so weird to look at our little selves.

I sit there, oblivious to his existence on earth. I am in pre-kindergarten. Glue, scissors and chasing lizards are my focus living in north Texas.

He sits there, surfing his #1 priority, on the cusp of adolescence, ready to take on the world in south Texas.

If we had met then, I would have been just another child that he would have patted on the head and talked to in a high pitched voice.

We would not cross paths for another 18 years.

It would take those 18 years for the world to throw its best and worst on us, while we grew up into the mature adults we were when we met.

During that time, I would find my way to the coast. I would attend college there, learn the difference between Corona and tequila, and meet a young man who, in all his absolutely charming ways, inadvertently fostered the best in me and sculpted me to be the woman Bill would fall in love with.**

Bill and I would meet at the ages of 22 and 30. We would marry 3 years later.

From the time those pictures were taken, and today, almost 40 years have past.

When I look at the picture of Bill above, I recognize my husband. I see the same eyes I have gazed into for more than 20 years. His soul shines in them. I see the same nose that I have kissed the tip of. I have run my fingers through that hair.

He was mine then, and I was his. My lopsided smile. My sleepy eyes. My inability to be comfortable in a dress. It is all still the same.

Those 2 kids found their way to each other.

But really, they didn’t have any choice.

It was fate.

Happy Valentines day, Billy.

** (Dude, you know who you are, you Houston kook. Did you ever find a dog to love as much as you did Helga? ;*) Thank you for being there while I grew up. The fact of the matter is, if I had met Bill before knowing you, things would have never turned out the way they did. I would not have been able to handle the relationship in a mature fashion and he and I would have moved on, away from each other and the amazing fate that awaited us. God put you in my path, as part of my journey to Bill, and I am very grateful for it, my friend.)

Fate