OUR STORY

When I posted about our 9 year anniversary in June, I had a lot of question from people wondering how old I am, why we waited so long to have a baby, and that sort of thing. I guess it confused people because they assumed I was on the younger side, but then being married for 9 years made people think I must be older. Anyways, for those of you that are curious, I thought I’d share a little bit of our story 🙂

I had known of Cody because he was one of the “cool” seniors when I was a freshman and he was friends with my cousin, Luke, but Cody never knew I existed until the summer of 2005. I was 15 and going into my junior year of high school and Cody was 19 (a year out of high school). My cousin, Luke, invited me and his little sister, Liz, to go out on the boat with him and a bunch of his friends, and that’s where Cody and I first started talking. Cody gave me and Liz a ride home and invited us out on his boat the next day. After a couple more boat trips, Cody finally asked Liz for my number (so smooth, right? Ha!) and basically, from then on, we spent every chance we got together. Of course, people talked because we lived in a small town and four years is a big age difference when you’re 15. Cody got made fun of for dating someone so young, and at school, people said I was dating a 30 year old (which seemed so old at the time, but now I’m like 30 is still young!). My parents and I have always had a great relationship so there was a lot of trust for them to allow me to date a 19 year old. Plus, with living in a small town, they were able to ask around about Cody was to decide if he could date their daughter. Cody and I spent most of our dating life at my parents house. Eventually, Cody ended up living on my parents couch for 2 years. He was working, saving money, and trying to decide on a career path and my parents were always so supportive of him. My sister and I joke that he’s their favorite child. My mom even takes Cody’s side when Cody and I argue. Like, I thought she was always supposed to be on my side? Ha!

I was still in high school when Cody and I got engaged, and he was going to a trade school to help him get a job as an apprentice electrical lineman. We got married when I was 18, exactly one year after I graduated high school, and he was 22. Cody had gotten a job as an apprentice lineman for the City of Lodi, so the day after our wedding, I packed up and moved to Lodi with Cody. We got so many questions about when we would have kids and we always told people we’d have kids in 8 years, but I don’t think anyone believed us because each year they continued to ask. We were young and wanted to have our time together before having kids, we wanted to be more established in our lives, and we wanted to be at a point where we could fully enjoy our kids and not have any feelings of missing out on being kids ourselves. (Although, we both have old souls and probably didn’t do most of the things that people in their 20’s do.)

After 8 years of marriage, we had our most perfect little baby, just like we had always said we would. Never underestimate my planning abilities! 😉

Cody and I have been so lucky that we have grown together over the years. That’s the risk of getting married young…you’re still changing and growing and discovering who you are and what you want out of life as individuals and you might grow in different directions. But I am so happy I found Cody at such a young age because we have had the most amazing 12 years together so far and I can’t imagine what my life would look like without him.

XO, Kacie