This is my yearbook picture as a senior. Yes, isn't it horrible? I hated this picture, even back then.

This is the retake I got, so I could have a decent picture of myself somewhere. It never did end up in the yearboook, of course. See below for more information on the dress.

This is me on my very first date, with a nice (and very tall) boy named Bevan. (I think. Sorry, Bevan, or whatever your real name is, if I got that wrong!) I actually have no memory of him calling to ask me out. He did, but I'd just gone on a 50/20, a boy scout event where you walk 50 miles in twenty hours, usually overnight. My mom had to wake me up to answer his call, and I didn't remember it the next day at all, when he saw me and asked me if I was excited.

This is me as a junior. That was the year my dad sat me down to explain his "rules of dating," which he had supposedly made my three older sisters follow. Among them was the rule of always leaving the door open if a boy was in your room with you. Also, no dating the same boy twice in a row. This caused some interesting situations.

This is my first date with my husband, whom I met on the swim team and dated (on and off, according to my father's rule) all through high school.

This is our second date. (He asked me this time.)

This is when it started to get complicated. See, I wanted to go junior prom. I already had my dress, a velvet forest green formal my sister had made me for Christmas. I also wanted to go with Matt. Problem: Dad's rule. Solution: Drill Team Formal with Ben, the guy one of my friends had a crush on but hadn't had the courage to ask out. (I don't know why I thought this was fine, but I did.)

New Problem: Matt asked this girl to the Junior Prom, since I hadn't asked him to Drill Team Formal. I heard about it after the fact from a friend who went. I was mad! And I got even more mad when Matt came over to tell me the sad story of his break-up with his date.

This is when it starts to get interesting. The next year, I invited this boy out (by kidnapping his teddy bear and leaving a ransom note. If he ever wanted his bear back--he'd have to go out with me). Then Matt asked me to the same dance. Uh-oh!

This is who Matt went to the dance with, after I answered yes to him, hoping that he meant to take me to Homecoming at the local university he was at. Only he didn't understand, and found out I apparently had two dates for the same dance. Confused, he went to ask the other guy who I was going with. Why didn't he call me? Hey, this was high school, and that's the way it is.

This is me and my best friend on a date with the captains of the swim team. My best friend had a crush on her date, also my husband's brother, but he had a girlfriend. Or so it seemed. But we decided to ask really early, like four months before the dance, so he couldn't say he already had plans. So he went with her, and I went with his best friend. I finally got to wear my green velvet dress!

This is me with yet another guy on a date in a horrible dress, which also happened to be a bridesmaid dress. Aren't those always horrible?

Here I am with my best friend who I roomed with in college. We had the nickname "Mettice" (Mette combined with Candice) because we were so inseparable that one teacher couldn't remember which name belonged to which, and decided to come up with a mix.

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