Rhian & I's 16th Anniversary

Most of you are thinking, "They haven't been married that long, have they?" The answer is, of course not. Thursday marked the 16th anniversary of Rhian and I having formally met. It was on Good Friday of 1992. Rhian and I had seen each other at church (we both attended Sts Peter & Paul), as well as on the plaza of Georgia State University, where we were both students. We never spoke to each other until that fateful day, when Rhian and I happened to be standing next to each other, waiting to cross Courtland Street, going from the University Center to the Plaza on our way to our 10:50 classes. I'm not sure who spoke first, I think it was me, but I know the conversation went in this order "You go to my church." "Oh yeah, you go to my church!" I then asked her if she was attending stations of the cross, which I was planning to attend at Sacred Heart after class, to which see responded "No, I'm a heathen." I wasn't sure how to take that, if it was her polite way of saying she wasn't interested. I'm not sure how the rest of the conversation went, but I do remember sitting in class thinking how beautiful this girl is, how she had a wonderful accent (which sounded British to me at the time), how there is no way I could ever get a girl like this, and how it was wrong to be thinking these things when I already had a girlfriend. I had put these thoughts in the back of my mind by the next day, until I walked to the same 10:50 geography class and saw, on the chalkboard in big letters, "Meet me after class. Rhian." I was pleasantly surprised and couldn't wait for class to end. She told me about some project for a biology class, and that she needed an angiosperm, which she would explain to me was the scientific name for a pine cone. I told her there was a park close by (Hurt Park) and that we could go look there. There was no place on campus to look (Georgia State is known as the concrete campus), and I knew there's always trees at a park. What she didn't know at the time was that I knew we wouldn't find any pine cones there, it would just be an opportunity for us to spend some time together. It was wonderful just being able to talk to her and get to know her. The more we talked, the more I realized that she was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside. My preconcieved notion was that a girl this beautiful (any girl) had to have at least a little conceit, but she had absolutely none. The great thing was that she was genuinely interested in me. I would soon ask her the question that would be the key to knowing that she was the one for me. Mind you, at the time, I was really into dressing grunge and had long hair that was shaved on the sides. I asked her what kind of music she liked. She at first told me that she listened to a little of everything. Wanting a little more detail, I asked her what her favorite group was. Thinking I was into hard rock, she reluctantly told me Depeche Mode. What she didn't know at the time about me was that they were by far my favorite group at the time. I had all their albums and singles. I told her they were my favorite too and she couldn't believe it. I knew she was the one then! Shortly after this, I would be put to the test. Rhian invited me over to her house to meet her mother. I didn't know what to expect, but I found her to be a very nice lady. (Are you reading this Madre? :o>) She would ask me if I could take the trash that was in the kitchen downstairs to the garbage. This was a no brainer! Of course I took the trash down! I have to make a good impression, right? :o) Needless to say, I passed the test. As I spent more time with Rhian, the more I realized how much I loved being with her. We would get engaged Thanksgiving of that year and eventually be married 2 1/2 years later.