“Yes! Yes! I'll say it! She has a BOYFRIEND!”

My baby girl has a boyfriend and by the looks of it, he's here to stay (for a while at least).

I really never gave the boyfriend thing much thought. When most of Andrea's friends were having their little boyfriend flings in elementary school, Andrea could care less. When they continued in middle school, she still had no desire to "go there". Then high school came along and for the first few months all was good, until the day came when Andrea said a boy had asked her to go to the movies with him.

She knew our rule of no dates until 16 (she was only 14) and by that we meant NO one-on-one, out alone with no one but her and him. So I told her she could go to the movies with him if a group of friends went together. Well in the end nothing transpired, no group movies, no boyfriend...we dodged that bullet.

At age 15 and starting her sophomore year she meets a boy on the cross country team. All was good, neither one noticing the other until one day after a meet…

…the sun was shining through the trees and as the boy looked her way he saw this girl standing there looking so beautiful while the rays of sunshine hit her face and hair and cupid's arrow struck and hit him hard!

These are his words not mine. Okay, the cupid's arrow is mine but the rest came from him. :)

This started the days, weeks and months of Romeo persuading Juliette to go out with him. Of course these days that persuasion came in the form of texting and Facebook messaging. After almost 6 months and Andrea finally admitting to herself and us AND him that she did like him, we said he could come over. He came over and hung out and asked if she could go to dinner with him and his family. We allowed it since they'd be in a group. And that's the official day they became boyfriend and girlfriend: 2/29/12.

First week together.

The no dating rule was still in place. He would come to our house, or she would hang out at his house but no official one-on-one date was allowed until she turned 16. This meant they had to wait 5 months for that first official date and wait they did.

The official first date. Not gonna lie…my heart was in my throat as they left together in his yellow, sports car!

It's been a blast getting to know Christopher. He comes from a large family, mostly boys too. Having an 18 year old boy around the house has been entertaining to say the least.

So how does this all work with CF in the picture. It's been eye opening for sure. I worried about how he would react when finding out more about CF and mostly how he would react about the average life expectancy. I actually was nervous about it. One of the first things I found out is that when he told his mother about Andrea having CF she said, "you know that never goes away, don't you?" I'm paraphrasing but you get the jest. He told her not to worry about it. But how could she not. Her child finally has a girlfriend and she has CF. I'm sure I'd worry some too.

I also found out his father smokes. So that lead to the conversation I had to have with the dad. I'm always nervous when talking to people who smoke, letting them know that Andrea can not be around smoke at all. I worry they'll take offense but all was good. He understood and I remind Chris and Andrea frequently that she is to stay away if there is smoking done around her.

The first time Andrea had CF clinic--with Chris in the picture-- he asked if he could go. I said no, that it was too soon. They'd only been together 2 months. He'd ask again and again and finally he did go to an appointment. It was to learn about how a bronchoscopy is performed and how medications work and to meet the new doctor our clinic had hired. Chris did a great job listening and learning. It was a long meeting and at one point he started to dose off, but when I quizzed him on what he learned he repeated most everything perfectly. What a good boy!

Chris at Andrea's first bronchoscope procedure talking to the anesthesiologist.

I did talk seriously to both of them about proper hygiene…since being in a relationship means kissing (yuck!). Mostly I told him that he is not to come around if he feels ill or has a cold. He must wash his hands frequently and break the habit of biting his nails. It's those little things most people don't think about but it's important, especially when around a CFer. He's done a great job keeping up with the "little extras" that come with dating a CFer.

I can hardly believe it but this week the two lovebirds celebrate their one-year-being-together-anniversary. It has been a great year. They've had a few small glitches but all in all it's been a great year. Chris treats Andrea like a queen (as it should be) and she loves, loves, loves her Chrissy. They are so goofy together and the best thing about the two of them is they laugh. They laugh a lot and have tons of fun. His family has been beyond kind to not only Andrea but to our entire family. They do adore Andrea and Andrea adores them too.

Since their official anniversary date is 2/29…they'll have to wait another 3 years to have an actual date to celebrate on…that is, if they last that long. ;) (Chris hates it when I say that. LOL!) In the meantime I tell them both to just enjoy the now and not worry about the future. If all goes as planned and as they hope it to be, they'll be celebrating their 4th year together on 2/29/16. Time will only tell!

They really are pretty cute together! :)