09 Aug Ten years and counting

Joanne and I have officially been married for 10 years.  We first started dating while she was still in college at Loyola Marymount University and it’s been a whirlwind ride ever since.

We first met in California while Joanne was a freshman.  She had been invited to our college Christian Club; CCF (Campus Christian Fellowship) by a mutual Hawaii born friend, Brett Chun.  Some friends and I made it a priority to bring Hawaii freshman to Hawaiian food restaurants and markets, to get their fill of local treats and eats.  One night, Brett brought Joanne out to dinner with us (which I didn’t think much of it at the time), and that became the night that changed our lives forever.

Even though I drove Joanne, Brett and a couple other people, we barely talked most of the night.  I honestly wasn’t even interested in dating anyone at the time, because having already graduated from college two years prior, I had already been planning my transition home to Hawaii. A few months later, Joanne and I ran into each other in a hallway near the cafeteria while I was on my way to CCF and she was on her way to….? That moment sparked a short conversation and me asking if I would see her at CCF that night which led to her joining us that evening and began our friendship.  Joanne started coming to church with myself and some friends and that eventually led us to became study buddies.  I was studying apologetics at BIOLA and she was getting into the Asian studies program, so we decided to study together.

Our studying turned into AIM chats and those chats turned into phone calls… before I knew it, I was reconsidering moving home to stay up in LA for a few more years while Joanne finished out her degree.  It’s a little hard to believe that it’s been close to sixteen years since Joanne and I met, but it’s been the best years of my life and I know they’re only getting better.

Today marks our tenth wedding anniversary and I can’t help but reminisce about all the fun times we’ve had in California getting to know each other, learning to adult together and eventually buying our first home(s) together…  We have some fundamental differences that sometimes make us feel like oil and water, but I can’t imagine doing life with anyone else but my best friend Joanne Watanabe.