We loved with a love that was more than love. ~Edgar Allan Poe

Love - a wildly misunderstood although highly desirable malfunction of the heart which weakens the brain, causes eyes to sparkle, cheeks to glow, blood pressure to rise and the lips to pucker. ~Author Unknown

Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same. ~Emily Brontë

The summer before I met Chris, I had been on a 4-H exchange trip to Colorado. Now this summer the 4-Hers we stayed with were coming to Minnesota. I had been matched up with Beth Oliver and she was great to hang out with. One of our activities after they got here was a night out at Torge's. It was a fun place to hang out. I invited Chris to come along that night and he escorted both Beth and I to the club. Beth, Melissa, Elaine and I tried to play a game of pool, but we had no skills to show off in front of my new boyfriend. It took us forever to get done playing. We danced some and then a slow song came on. Not necessarily one of my favorites, but one that got Chris out onto the dance floor. It was When a man Loves a Woman by Michael Bolton. We held hands until we got onto the dance floor and then did the stand and dance in a circle thing, with his arms around my waist, my arms around his neck. Not knowing what to do next. Do we stand apart? Do I put my head on his shoulder? Do we talk or just stare into eachothers eyes? Things are always so complicated when you are 16!

You know you're in love when you don't want to fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams. ~Dr. Seuss

Chris and I lived about 50 minutes or so away from eachother (depending on who was driving). We saw eachother once a week and when I was lucky twice a week. I didn't get to go out just whenever I wanted to. There was always some sweet talking to do to Dad to keep him happy too. Every Saturday I would bake him a pie. It started out with apple or cherry, but I had three hungry brothers in the house that seemed to like my pies as well. So soon it changed to always being minced meat pie.

I was happy going out with Chris, but I knew he had alot of girls in his class (like 30girls vs 6 guys). Girls that liked him. I knew he knew them much better than me and I never really saw how he interacted with them, so soon after school started back up I felt that our relationship probably wasn't strong enough for long distance. This was about six months into our relationship. I was nervous until one day I had stayed after school to use the computers in the library for homework. It was our six month anniversary and VERY much to my surprise Chris comes in with a balloon (with my name spelled correctly on it too!)and roses for me for our anniversary!! This wasn't just a nice gesture on his part~he had basketball practice, it was his bowling night and there was a blizzard that he drove an hour in to see me. I never doubted him after that.