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Then

I thought I loved you then.

All I remember about when I first met you was how you took my breath away. You were dancing at that country bar on campus, your hair down and wavy, your lips bright red, and eyes framed in thick lashes making their emerald green stand out. You wore a pair of well worn, almost tattered, jeans and a simple white top along with broken in boots. You were the most beautiful girl in the entire building. It was hard not to stare, but every so often you would look my way and flash me that smile. That smile gets me every time, always has, always will.

I finally mustered up the courage to talk to you when I almost ran into you at the bar. I offered to buy you a drink, making some lame joke about you working up a thirst. You just looked at me for a second, before busting out laughing, that’s when I knew you were perfect, alright so you said something about it being the worst joke you had ever heard, but you gave me credit for making you laugh.

That’s where we started, every day since then we couldn’t stay away from each other. I still remember a few weeks after that night talking on your front steps for almost an hour before you said you had to go to bed, you finally let me kiss you goodnight and slipped inside. You always took my breath away, still do.

I remember trying not to stare
The night that I first met you
You had me mesmerized
And three weeks later
In the front porch light
Taking 45 minutes to kiss goodnight
I hadn't told you yet
I thought I loved you then

Looking back on those first few months I know when I fell in love with you, and it was from the second I saw you and couldn’t tear my eyes away. You’re beautiful, and I can’t believe we’ve come so far, it’s only been 6 months but I can’t imagine my life without you in it. I love waking up with you in my arms, and falling asleep with you tucked into my side. I never thought back then that we’d be together this long, I just knew that I needed to talk to you, to get to know you.

I don’t know where I’d be with out you either. There has been a few times, alright too many to count, where I needed your help. I’m semi-reckless, your words, and have broken some bones, bruised some ribs, and you’ve always been there to take care of me. You tell me I was stupid for getting into trouble but you still always take care of me.

I don’t know what I would do without you. You’re my whole life, I love you more than I can even begin to express. I can’t believe how I feel about you, I didn’t know it was possible to love someone this much.

Now you're my whole life
Now you're my whole world
I just can't believe
The way I feel about you girl
Like a river meets the sea
Stronger than its ever been
We've come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then

I remember walking back into the same place I first saw this beautiful, awe-inspiring woman who stole my heart. It looked exactly the same, old wooden floors, barrels, and high top tables all around. It was crowed, just like every night. It became our place, you’d dance, I’d watch, and unfortunately you would occasionally talk me into joining you. I’m pretty sure you like making a fool of me.

Then that song came on, the one playing that first time, right on que too. I turned to you, seeing that smile that makes my knees weak, and said that I loved you, more than yesterday and less than tomorrow. That I didn’t think that a year ago when I saw you dancing here that I would be so in love with you. But I was. Then I pulled out that tiny box that had felt like a ton in my pocket and got down on my knee. In front of the crowded dance floor, my heart pounding in my chest, I asked you to spend forever with me.

Thank the good Lord you said yes.

I remember taking you back
To right where I first met you
You were so surprised
There were people around
But I didn't care
I got down on one knee right there
And once again
I thought I loved you then

I thought that I couldn’t love you anymore than that moment with tears welling up in your eyes, as I kneeled in front of you. I thought that I couldn’t love you more than that night when you agreed to spend your forever with me. I don’t know how I deserved a woman like you. I must be the luckiest man in the world to be able to have you in my life.

You laugh at my jokes, even the ones that aren’t that funny. You make me smile on a daily basis. And I can’t wait to spend my life with you. Every day I spend with you I fall deeper, my feelings become stronger, and I can’t believe the way I feel about you.

I thought I loved you when I met you but we’ve come so far since that day. We’ve grown up together, you and I. And we’re going to grow old together.

Now you're my whole life
Now you're my whole world
I just can't believe
The way I feel about you girl
Like a river meets the sea
Stronger than its ever been
We've come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then

Watching you walk down the aisle on our wedding day will forever be engrained in my memories as the greatest day of my life, as the day our separate lives ended and we started on that journey together. You looked radiant in your white dress, and your smiled beamed when our eyes met. I had to keep myself from running towards you and taking you into my arms right then.

I don’t remember anything that was said, besides your vows to me. To love me always, even when I annoy you to the point you want to scream. To take care of me even when I’m ‘a big baby who needs to go to a doctor rather than sit at hope and mope all day’. To laugh at every joke no matter how goofy. To never give up on us, to work everyday at making sure we lasted the long haul. To have a marriage that stands the test of time.

Now I wasn’t exactly a big fan of the big baby part, I hate being sick, and I need you to take care of me, but you meant every word you said and that was all that mattered.

We danced the night away before taking off in a hurry, for once I wasn’t the only one in a hurry.

Now as we sit here all I can think about is where our life will lead. Hopefully a few kids, at least one needs to be a girl just like you, and I’d like a son. I can just see you carrying our child as it grows in you. I can’t wait to be a father, as long as you’re beside me.

Then years from now when we’re old and grey, and your promise that we would be the one marriage that lasted forever, I don’t know how but I’m sure I’ll look back on our life and think how much I love you. I just don’t know if I could ever love you more than I do now.

I can just see you
With a baby on the way
I can just see you
When your hair is turning grey
What I can't see
Is how I'm ever gonna love you more
But I've said that before

The beautiful thing is that I have forever to figure out how to love you more than I already do. I have time to show you everyday that my love for you grows. The kids will run around out side and you’ll ask me how it happened, how did we get so lucky? And all I’ll be able to say is that you’re my whole life, my whole world. Fate brought you too me that night and I’m happy that I didn’t let you go.

You’ll smile that knock out smile that makes me melt, and I’ll think back on all that happened with us and wonder the same thing. I can’t believe how much I love you, just how much you mean to me. And the only thing I’ll be able to tell you is that I thought I loved you then.

Now you're my whole life
Now you're my whole world
I just can't believe
The way I feel about you girl
We'll look back someday
At this moment that we're in
And I'll look at you and say
And I thought I loved you then

You’re the most amazing thing to happen to me. Whenever I see you, I see that girl the first day I met you, the bright eyed, ruby red lips, and such amazing confidence. I hope our daughters, when we have them, are just like you. And I hope our sons find women to love that make them feel like I feel about you. You still take my breath away, I don’t think that will ever stop. Even in the morning with your hair a mess and no makeup on. You’re the most beautiful woman alive.

The only thing I can think about when I see you and think about back when it all began . . .

And I thought I loved you then.