It was the blue eyes, I think.
I have a weakness for blue eyes.
Plus, he always laughed at my jokes. Not a forced chuckle, but an actual laugh.
So when I found out he liked me, I was pleased. We had been hanging out for a couple weeks, nothing romantic, just easy flowing conversations.
It was the blue eyes, I think.
They drew me in, especially when he wore blue shirts.
We started dating, and it was sweet, a typical high school romance. I didn’t think it would last forever, honestly. I mean, I was seventeen. Even when Tom would mention our future wedding, I’d chuckle, thinking it would be lovely, but that eventually he’d turn his teenaged eyes on another girl.
But he never did.
Even when we were apart for that year. He had to stay behind and finish his last year of high school (he’s actually older than me by a month, but he was held back in first grade) while I had to go with my family to the next military base that my mother was assigned to.
It was hard, I’m not going to lie. And when I flew back to see him graduate from high school, I wasn’t sure what it was going to be like. Would it still be the same? Would the feelings still be there?
It was.
It’s probably why I ended up getting pregnant on that trip. Only nineteen, an only child, a chick who had no idea what to do with babies. I wouldn’t have blamed Tom if he had left. After all, he was starting his Air Force career and here I am, announcing that hi, we’re going to have a baby.
He married me.
And today, we’ve been married for nine years.
“Can you believe it? Nine years,” Tom mused on Skype.
“Nine years? Has it been that long? Jesus, we’re getting old,” I answered. “If we were celebrities, nine years would be considered a long time. The media would have dubbed us TomBer, you know, the whole combining of the names thing that drives me insane?”
“Yeah,” Tom agreed.
“Hey Tom?” I said.
“Yeah?”
“Thank you. For...everything. For marrying a knocked up nineteen-year-old.”
“Thank you for marrying a nineteen-year-old poor soldier.”
“We were rich in love, at least,” I said, and then I cracked up, because it’s hard for me to stay serious for long. I love romance films when the couples say these eloquent things to each other and I’m always like, “That looks fun.” But usually if Tom and I start acting like that, I tend to get the giggles and then picture Tom farting on the couch.
After I logged off, I started flipping through our wedding album and Natalie wandered over.
“Daddy,” she said, pointing to a baby-faced Tom. We were so young. And Tom was right, pretty poor. We got married in a court house in Flagstaff, Arizona and I was seven months pregnant. I had on a black maternity dress, not because I was in mourning, but because it was the only fancy thing I had.
“That’s right. That is Daddy,” I said, lifting Natalie onto my lap. “Do you know we met in high school? When I met him, I was instantly attracted. It was the blue eyes, I think…”
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I made this video a couple years ago. This basically sums up everything:
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