I've been with hubby for over 12 years. 12 years. While it may not seem like a long time, a lot has changed!

We met in the fall of 2002, before Facebook and Skype even existed. When most people still used 35mm cameras (try taking a selfie with one of those, I have many from our early dating days). When AOL Instant Messenger was the cool way to communicate. And while everyone had cell phones, texting was pretty much non-existent and camera phones and Internet had just been thought of! Hubby and I used to call each other on our dorm room land lines since we only had to dial four numbers and it didn't cost us any minutes (you know, back in the day when you had a very limited number of calling minutes each month).

But you know what, I'm glad we fell in love during that time.

I'm glad that we had to hear each other's voices and have the nerve to ask each other things outright rather than hiding behind a cell phone screen, typing away.

I'm glad that we spent our first Christmas apart falling asleep on the phone with each other.

I'm glad that we were able to miss each other and grow fonder when we were apart instead of having instant connectivity. That year I spent seven days on a boat in the Caribbean Sea, only getting to talk to him once when we docked in Puerto Rico and I spent three weeks without seeing his face and I loved it even more when we returned to school and each other in January.

When we graduated college almost exactly 10 years ago, we'd never even heard of Skype or Facetime. When hubby got into grad school in Oklahoma and I got offered a contract with a small ballet company in Atlanta, we had to make a choice: stick together or split apart. We both knew we wanted a future together and I knew that we were the type of couple that needed physical contact and that we might not survive a long-distance relationship. I chose to go to Oklahoma with him because I knew he would have done the same had I gotten into grad school (but I didn't).

I'm glad that we chose to grow our love face-to-face. That I got to hold hubby's hand when I told him I loved him rather than holding my smartphone.

I'm glad that we never got in a fight over misunderstood tone. And if we didn't have time to talk, it wasn't that important.

We were married 7 1/2 years ago, still long before camera phones and social media were popular (or at least before I cared). Our wedding happened back in the day when people would place disposable cameras on the tables for people to take pictures of the wedding festivities (we didn't, we hired two professional photographers and had my sister's good friend video tape everything instead).

It was before people stood to see the brides entrance and raised their phones to capture the moment. It was before #hashtags and instant sharing. It was back when people clapped as you made your entrance as Mr. and Mrs. at the reception and watched quietly, taking in your love, while you had your first dance rather than snapping, Tweeting and Instagraming every moment. And I'm very thankful for that. (Can you believe I even planned our whole wedding without Pinterest?!?!)

I'm glad that we got to enjoy our day with our closest family and friends, without having to invite the entire outside world in.

I'm glad that our love blossomed in the real world. That there was nothing virtual or digital about our beginning.

I'm glad that our hurting or angry words were spoken because their impact is stronger and results are instant. And while they can't be taken back, spoken words are more easily resolved and don't linger in cyberspace.

I'm glad that we became The Roys hand-in-hand, heart-to-heart. I'm so glad that I found love before technology took over the world.

This post was originally published on Beyond Mommying as part of the March Marriage Challenge