August 25, 2012

This is why I married him

I wish I had cleaned out our closet before Jerry's and my anniversary, because all this stuff I found would have made the perfect anniversary post! But it was too good not to post, so I'm going to anyway ;)

Today, I literally spent the ENTIRE day cleaning the house. The kids went to a birthday party for a few hours, and since it was next door to my mom's house, she let them stay there all afternoon. I used that time to deep clean all of the bedrooms. It was all entirely boring, until I got to Jerry's and my bedroom closet.

I found SO MANY memories!! And even though Jerry was at work, I totally fell head over heels in love with him again. He is honestly the sweetest guy I've ever known. When Jerry acts goofy, a lot of people jokingly say to me, "He's yours?!" or "You married that?!" (For example, when we were at his softball tournament and he hiked his pants up into "nut huggers").

I always laugh and jokingly say something like, "I know, I must have been drunk when I said yes!" But Jerry is SUCH a great guy. There is a side to him that those people don't see, which is what I'm about to show you.

Jerry likes to draw pictures for me--not beautiful, artistic-type drawings, but more cartoon-like drawings. And when we were dating, it became a tradition that he would draw pictures on the paper place mats at restaurants we went to together. He still does this occasionally, but we don't eat out often, so most of the drawings are from 1999-2002 ish. Here are a few of my favorites:





I think that's supposed to be a pedestal that I'm on ;)

"I would swim through the seas for you. Seeing as how I can't swim,
I would take a submarine."

"Lucifer welcomes you to Camp Shane" BAHAHA,
Camp Shane was the weight loss camp that I was a
counselor at in 2002--it was awful.

The last one is hard to read...

"You look good in dark blue...
You look hot even with the flu.
But you look best with me on you.
I like it when you're so clean,
And not so mean,
I like it when you're free,
Even when you pee.
I love you as a she,
I would love you as a he."

A poet, Jerry is not... but this made me laugh! Here are a couple of other things I found:
We bought each other the same exact card for Sweetest Day
one year.

Some movie ticket stubs from 2002ish?

ALL of the letters we wrote to each other when Jerry was in basic training.
I'm going to have to read through mine and see how ridiculous I sounded then!
 (I don't know if I mentioned this before, but shortly after we started dating, Jerry left for basic training--he had joined the Army. But he broke his foot during a PT test, and they discharged him. He was gone for five months).

That's supposed to be the "You are my sunshine" song

Another of Jerry's lovely poems
And finally, something from our wedding. At the reception hall, instead of having a guest book (because those are boring), we had a stack of cards and pens for people to write advice to us for our new marriage. We had a big glass bowl that everyone put them in, and that night, after the wedding, we read them out loud to each other.

Going through those today was so fun!
A few favorites:
From my favorite uncle


This one is from my favorite aunt--she used to baby-sit my brothers, sister, and me when we were kids. She was there when we woke up and she got us off to school. She would make us ANYTHING we wanted for breakfast. I always chose a poached egg on toast. Here is what she wrote to Jerry: "Here's how to make a poached egg for Katie--Boil and egg in water until the white part is set. Make toast while egg is cooking. Butter toast, put egg on toast. Sprinkle with salt. Cut into squares. (Katie will eat the center piece first!) Love and happiness to you both."




This one I'm sure is from my little brother. "If you guys ever think about having kids, go stay the night with Tommy & Shannon."  Tommy is my cousin, and Shannon is his wife. They have two boys, a couple of years apart in age. Their house was always chaotic when the kids were little, which is what my brother was referring to. I think this is funny because now Jerry and I have two boys, 18 months apart, and OUR house is the chaotic one! I'm sure people would give this same advice to others, only replacing the names with "Jerry and Katie". ;)

Something that I don't have anymore, and I wish more than anything I'd saved, are my old hand-written journals. I kept a diary ever since I was able to write, and I had so many of them. But I would get paranoid that someone would read it, so I would burn them after a year or so. I would love to see what I was thinking then.

Anyway, I'm so glad that I saved all the pictures, letters, and notes from Jerry. It totally made my day to come across that stuff today!

32 comments:

  1. Aww, those are really sweet. That's funny because last night we watched my grad party and graduation (we'd been dating 6 months then) and it was just so funny to see us 20 years ago. (Ugh, that was depressing to type! HA!) Great memories so glad you kept them!

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  2. What a sweet post! Jerry can be quite the artist!

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  3. Samantha B.August 25, 2012

    This is so sweet! It is amazing to remember all the reasons why you fell in love with your significant other.. And then realize you still love them for all those same reasons plus many more!

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  4. I was JUST thinking about a half hour ago that I have to go through the letters Charlie and I wrote to each other while I was away at college. There are some that should NEVER be found by my children when going through our things when we're dead!

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  5. I love this post. My boyfriend and I are so similar to you and Jerry. He's really goofy and funny like Jerry- I get the same exact "He's yours?!" and "How do you put up with that?!". He always does something to make me laugh, and we have the same twisted and crude sense of humor. A lot of the time though, people don't get our humor lol. We've been together for almost six years, and have lived together for five. When we decide to get married (we're in no hurry lol, I'm 23 and he's 37), I love the idea of the notecards. We have wacky family members too. I'll absolutely get some gems out of that!

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  6. this is very cute! I used to save all my journals but whenever I read through them I'd cringe. I finally decided not to bring them with me when I moved.

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  7. those drawings are adorable....hes a keeper :)

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  8. What a great post! Someday I hope to be able to write a post like this!

    Laurie
    Chickadee Jubilee

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  9. How sweet. Jerry is quite the artist!! My hubby is always drawing little cartoons n cards he buys me. <3

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  10. That is so sweet Katie! You have a winner there, hold onto him tight.

    Nice drawings too! :)

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  11. This post is so sweet!! Its so nice to read about your inspirational weight loss, but I also love reading about the love you and Jerry have for each other! It makes me so happy to know you can still be so in love after so many years together!

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  12. Ahhhhhh.......so damn sweet! And he's quite an artist too, but tell him not to give up his day job!!

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  13. Aww this is awesome. You and Jerry seem like a great couple.

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  14. I have a box full of journals and I was reading a couple from 10th and 11th grade a couple weeks ago! It was hilarious and cringe worthy!

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  15. I've been following your blog for a month now and this post brought tears to my eyes! You are one lucky woman!

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  16. Jenn in JerseyAugust 26, 2012

    That is so sweet! Your hubby's a great guy! I also have had journals since I was able to write....and I also burned most of them.lol

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  17. That's very cute! My boyfriend is the same way, always loud and doing silly things in public and people always say that to me "you put up with him?" etc., but they don't see the other side of him either. He's not an artist but he's always making up cute little songs and dances and what not.

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  18. So so sweet! I did lots of cleaning yesterday.

    shilohstaste.com

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  19. This made me smile so hard I cried! Thanks for sharing!!!

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  20. I loved this post! Jerry is a romantic...

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  21. So cute! My man Dan is very goofy. Particularly punny when it comes to jokes. He gets some groans and eye rolls. But boy, does he make me laugh and it's the greatest feeling in the world!

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  22. I think I am in love with your husband <3 LOL He is so sweet!

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  23. What a great trip down memory lane! I love this post.

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  24. Cute memories! What is Sweetest Day? I've never heard of it!

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  25. I LOVE this -- Jerry is the best!

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  26. While I rarely post comments, I want/need to tell you just how much I appreciate your blogging. Whether it's about running, eating, or your personal life I find I am able to connect with you in many areas and am always inspired by your musings. Typically I read your blog when I wake up in the morning before I get on the treadmill and I'm finding it is the best way to start my day. Thank you for your honesty. Thank you for sharing your journey. Most of all, thank you for giving, those of us with a long road to go, the hope and motivation to continue!

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  27. That is so sweet! Thank you for sharing that I smiled the whole time reading this post:)

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  28. Once again, Jerry makes me laugh out loud! These are all great...and while I am no artist, I think those cartoons are really good!!

    Thanks for sharing!

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  29. So heartwarming, thank you for sharing!!

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  30. This totally made me smile. :-)

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