My Forever Valentine

I met my husband, Jason, in college at the University of Iowa. Our first encounter with each other did not cause sparks to fly and neither one of us experienced love at first sight. But we kept bumping into each other and it was during the third encounter when I was struck by cupid's arrow.

The arrow came out of nowhere and I was overwhelmed by this attraction for Jason. Feeling love struck for him, it shocked me and was confusing, but the feeling drove me to pursue him. After my cupid moment, I decided I was going to make him fall in love with me. Jason was interested after I introduced myself, but I was hesitant to date him. I had just left a bad relationship that lasted four years and I was still picking up the pieces of my broken heart so a friendship bloomed between us.

We slowly got to know each other and before we knew it six months passed. Jason moved the friendship from platonic to a relationship by kissing me after a "study" date. We, actually, didn't get around to that study session. The day was spent going to dinner, watching the movie "Benny & Joon" and ending the night by the Iowa River where we had our first kiss.

Our friendship bonded us to each other so we could weather the storms that came up in our 18 years together. It has been a bumpy ride, but our love persevered. Jason is my best friend and has stood by my side through my father's cancer and his death, my mother's cancer and her death and the demons from past abuse. I stood by him after he lost multiple jobs due to a poor economy.

These 18 years have been rocky. The difficult moments made us question our love for each other and almost caused us to go our separate ways. But it was the friendship we had established before dating that helped us through all those rocky times.

A friendship that led to our first kiss that confused me and made me respond by asking, "But I thought we were just friends?" Jason laughed and didn't bother to answer my question, but kissed me again. This first kiss I'll always remember and advise young couples that your mate should be your best friend, because your best friend will weather any storm with you.