Six Years: 10/11/12

On October 10, 2006, I called my then-friend, Jacob, to talk. We had been dancing around the idea of dating for nearly a year, and it was time to make a decision. We agreed to have lunch the next day.
On October 11, 2006, we went to lunch at Carl's Jr. and then I took him back to the building where his class was. That is where he said some pretty fateful words: "So, wanna try the dating thing for a while?"

Fast forward to yesterday.

I drove to Denver after filling up the car and grabbing some fuel for myself.

Grande coffee frapp with whip and caramel drizzle. 

Our plan was to go to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science to see the temporary exhibit of Pompeii. When I was younger, I wanted to be an archaeologist; Jacob loves Roman History, so it just made so much sense for us to go see the exhibit. 

Here is a sampling of what we saw:

A carbonized loaf of bread. 

A pair of gladiator shin guards.

Fans of the HBO drama Rome will recognize this tile mosaic.

Funerary objects: sculptures of dogs.

A cast of a young girl covering her face and mouth to prevent suffocation.
Many of the casts on display at the museum portrayed similar survival attempts.
Sadly, nothing can prevent suffocation when it's a pyroclastic flow that overtakes your city with nine feet of volcanic ash.

We couldn't leave the museum without Jacob seeing his favorite exhibit: the dinosaurs!

By the time we left the dinos, it was closing time, and 5pm in Denver means rush hour traffic. So, we decided to head straight over to dinner. We were having a tough time choosing between Kokoro and Colore, but eventually chose Italian over Japanese.

Jacob looking at the menu. So many wonderful choices to be made.

"Were you sneaking pictures of me?" 

We both ordered the Chicken Parmigiana.

...and it was so good we ate it all. (Well, except for Jacob who left a noodle behind.)

We then decided to go to the Elvis Cinema and see a $3 movie. It came down to Ted or Brave, and we got there just in time to see the 7pm showing of Brave.

After the movie, it was back to his aunt's house. Jacob had made his grandma's jam bars recipe a day before I got there, so dessert was already ready!

It was a great day full of laughter and love and great reminders of why we started dating in the first place and what has kept us together for this long. (Which really doesn't seem like it's been that long at all.)
...so, all in all, I'd say it was a pretty successful anniversary!

Us together, getting ready to leave the museum's parking lot.