Then & Now

The photo on the left was the first one ever taken of us. We were in 8th grade band class in the spring of 1999. Luke played the clarinet and I played the french horn. The photo on the right was taken when Luke left for his second deployment to Iraq last June of 2008.

The story of how we met... We were in 8th grade gym class together. Luke noticed me while we were playing a game of dodge ball. I, however, did not know he even existed at the time. He would not talk to me, but asked all of my friends for my phone number. Not a single one of them would give it to him. You see, at the time my parents were unlisted in the phone book. They told me that if I ever gave our number to my friends that I should tell them never to give it out to anyone else. They listened well. :)

One day my friend and I were going for a walk after school. She lived near Luke. We came up to his house and I asked her, "Hey! Isn't that the house of the kid who wants my phone number?" I don't know how I knew that was his house, but apparently I did. My friends had told me of his efforts to get my number. I asked the girl I was walking with to dare me to knock on his door. She did and I agreed, but I made sure she came with me. I knocked on the door. In a house of 5 people, Luke was the one who answered it that time. He answered the door with his fly down and his pet bird on his head. I remember that very well. He looked a little shocked that I was standing there and didn't know what to say. We had never talked before that moment. I simply said I heard he wanted my numbered. He said yeah and ran to get a pen and paper. I gave it to him. He called me and we arranged our very first date. We went to the movie theatre (escorted by his mother in her gold Ford Taurus station wagon) to see "10 Things I Hate About You." Our second date was to Wooddale Roller Skating Rink, where we shared our first kiss. And the rest, my friends, is history.