Red

This month, my husband and I will celebrate the 20th anniversary of our first date. We'll also celebrate the first anniversary of our new baby's conception.

Both anniversaries I might owe to the color red.

When JP asked me out 20 years ago, we were still in high school. There was a dance the day after Christmas. (Actually, they called it a cotillion, but that sounds fancier than it actually was! Maybe the parent organizers thought we'd all act better if they gave it an important name. It didn't work.) I was the new girl and decided to give this seemingly shy, geeky guy a chance. What did I have to lose? He was nice. He didn't seem bothered by the fact my dad wanted to talk to him first. And I got a red dress out of it.

My stepmother took me shopping for the dress. The fashion then for a typical prom-type dress had a dropped waist, a full skirt and puffy sleeves. The dress we found was plain, but the beautiful Christmasy color and the ever-so-slightly shimmery fabric won us over.

Apparently, it won JP over, too, because he asked me out again. As I got to know him, I realized he wasn't as geeky as I thought. Smart. Kind. But shy? Yes. I was outgoing enough for both of us, however, and we were a regular couple for the rest of high school.

Nineteen years later, after 11 years of marriage, I was looking forward to having an intimate Christmas with JP when I stumbled across beautiful red lingerie. It was unlike anything I'd ever worn: red lace with clusters of glitter placed in a pattern that made you think the glitter was actually rhinestones. It was fancy and seemed just right for Christmas. Anyone married for 11 years knows you try different things to keep those flames of romance going, so a week before Christmas, that little red outfit helped me fan those flames!

Little did we know that lingerie also happened to have a hand in giving us a baby! The way I tell people: we weren't trying, but we weren't not trying, either.

So, 20 years in the making, our baby is now here. It will be our first Christmas together as a family! And we have a special new Christmas stocking for our little guy in . . . red.

--Damselfly started blogging about her pregnancy at Growing a Life and is now making sporadic new-mama posts about her 12-week-old boy. We've swapped places today, so please go check out my entry there--and don't miss the rest of the red- & green-themed blog exchange posts. You'll find all of them by clicking on the pretty pink button at right.