It was an excruciating year. Every minute that Niall was gone, I ached for him and I was convinced he was going to find some beautiful California bombshell to replace me. But every time he came back to visit, every time we FaceTimed - heck even with every text - he convinced me that I was his one and only.

He had come home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and then I went out there to visit for his spring break in March. That was loads of fun because we hit the beach when things were still mushy and cold back in Kentucky. I got a sunburn and Niall just looked hotter all the time with his accumulating tan; I guess living in the sunshine did that to you. I met some of his friends and they were all fantastic. I felt a lot better for him being so far away because he still had the same values and the same kinds of friends that he did at home. It was hard leaving him but by then, we only had a few months left before we'd have another whole summer together.

And we did indeed spend every waking moment of the summer together. And many sleeping moments when we could get away with it. After all, Niall was an adult and his parents couldn't exactly confine him to his bedroom anymore (and oh yeah, his parents got back together! so happy!) after he had been away at college all year. But neither of us wanted it to be super obvious to our parents that we were having sex either, although at that point, I'm pretty sure they figured it out. For the most part, we just liked sleeping next to each other, holding each other close and stocking up on together time for when he'd have to leave again in the fall.

We had saved our pennies and planned our road trip, just like we said we would. Two weeks before he was due to be back on campus, he and I would take our Route 66 road trip all the way to back to Stanford. I would fly back home after we arrived, since we were planning to take Niall's car.

And so it was around Labor Day, we packed up his old Toyota Camry with all his things for college, as well as one suitcase for me since he had hardly any space left; he promised we'd find laundromats along the way. We planned to eat on the cheap, hitting grocery stores more often than restaurants since we didn't really have space to pack any food except what we could fit into a tiny Igloo cooler.

Our first stop was St. Louis and of course, we went up in the arch which actually challenged both Niall and me. The elevator pods to ride to the top were small and claustrophobic, even for me. And I wasn't crazy about heights so when Niall wanted me to lean over the slanted glass to look down, I was hesitant. But he wrapped his arms around my waist and murmured into my ear, "It's all right, Meg. I've gotcha." Just like he did all those years ago in the treehouse during the thunderstorm.

Some of the motels we stayed in were downright scary, with flickering fluorescent bulbs, dirty towels, paper-thin walls. But neither of us minded much at all because we were together and this was our first taste of adulthood as a couple, off on our own without our parents constantly watching.

We took advantage of that fact often, opting to sleep in and engage in lazy morning sex before heading out for the day. Besides, we were about to face another several months of missing each other, so I think we were both of the mindset that we had to take full advantage of the time we had.

As planned, we stopped at Pops 66 Soda Ranch, home of the tallest pop bottle as well as hundreds of flavors of soda pop. We sampled an unbelievable amount of flavors and practically made ourselves sick. We purchased and packed many of them to go, laughing as we tried to fit the soda cases in his already jammed car.

Route 66 took us through Amarillo, Albuquerque, and Flagstaff all of which held rich and interesting pieces of history. Of course, we took a few days to explore the Grand Canyon. Niall always had an insatiable quest for more hiking and climbing  while I didn't quite have the energy I used to in high school since I hadn't been working out. Can you blame me? My hot, sexy boyfriend hadn't been around enough to be my coach and my cheerleader. Still, the Grand Canyon was one of the highlights of the trip. There is no way to describe in words how majestic and awe-inspiring that little piece of it was.

From Flagstaff, we continued on to the historic Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, staying overnight in one of the circular rooms decorated with Native American finery. On the way from Holbrook to Williams, we both caught sight of the "dinos on the highway" at the same moment and then burst into laughter, followed by us singing, "Get your motor runnin', Dinos on the highway!" We had to pull over because we were laughing so hard. Well, that and we wanted to get pictures with the famed dinosaurs. We spent far too long taking goofy photos of each other. When we got back into the car, Niall pulled me to himself and kissed me deeply. "I'm so happy we're doin' this together," he said softly.

"Me, too," I whispered back, completely overwhelmed with love for my man.

After that, we couldn't get to our motel fast enough; our hands all over each other as we drove, teasing each other and me constantly reminding Niall to keep his eyes on the road. Even so, we stopped to see the haunted caboose motel room in Williams, Arizona but neither of us was brave enough to spend the night in it after what had happened at Belvedere Castle when we were in Ireland. One encounter with a ghost was enough to last both of us a lifetime! We opted to stay in a very normal, nice hotel room and the only distraction we had was each other.

The following day brought us to the pinnacle of our trip: Kingman, Arizona, home of the The Grand Canyon Cavern motel room. We toured the room at twenty stories below the surface of the earth, but we both agreed that we probably couldn't stay overnight there. Not only because we couldn't afford the hefty price tag and it was booked for months out, but also because it was too cut off and too quiet. I wasn't claustrophobic like Niall, but I felt a bit apprehensive just being so far underground that there was no quick way to escape.

That was on September 13, our birthday, and yes, of course we planned it that way, to spend our birthdays together in our "Promised Land."

After exploring the cave hotel, we splurged for dinner at a nice restaurant. Now, it was my 21st, so of course, I ordered a drink, too. And afterwards, Niall stopped at a store and I bought us a bottle of wine. Shh, don't tell anyone. Besides, we weren't going anywhere once we checked into our room for the night.

I changed into a cute pajama shorts set and Niall put on some lounge pants and a plain white t-shirt. We definitely weren't the sexy lingerie type of couple. We sat on our bed and poured our wine glasses full, raising them in a toast. "Here's to eleven years of friendship and love with me best friend and me best girl," Niall said, clinking his glass against mine. I took a quick sip but then leaned in to kiss Niall before he could even swallow his. "You're tryin' to steal my wine, are ya?"

"No," I giggled. "I just love you so much. I can't believe how much we've been through in eleven years, wow! I still remember, clear as day, when you first came down to breakfast on our shared birthday in 2001. You were so cute, but I didn't realize it until later because I was so threatened by you."

"Threatened by me?" Niall asked confusion.

"Well, yeah, I was the only child for ten years and all of a sudden, I had to share my home and my life with another kid. One who shared my birthday. Man, at first, I was pissed!" I laughed.

"Were ya really? You did a good job of hiding it," Niall said with tender smile.

"That's because I found out how cool you were right after breakfast when we were playing Xbox together. Remember that? We played the whole day." Niall nodded, taking another drink of his wine. "Why does that feel like it was only yesterday?"

"It's gone by fast," Niall remarked. "That means the next three years will go fast, too. You'll see. Either I'll come back to Kentucky or we can get married and move somewhere together."

We had talked about marriage, of course, but it never felt like it could really happen, like it was too far out of reach. But now, here we were, on this road trip together and I had just become an officially official adult. (Sure, 18 is the first mark of adulthood, but 21 opens up even more possibilities.) In three years, I'd be 24 and Niall would be 22. We'd be plenty old enough to get married.

"When are ya gonna start college?" Niall asked, bringing me out of my daydream.

"I...I just don't know, Niall," I said, feeling kind of embarrassed about it. "I know I got accepted to Western Kentucky and I've postponed my start there, but I just don't know what I want to study."

"Ya don't have to declare a  major right away, you know. You can just get your general credits out of the way. When you finish up there, we can move wherever we want to."

"Don't you want to stay in Park City?" I asked. "Both of our families are there."

"I don't want to move across the world," he said with a shrug. "I'll probably never move back to Ireland. But I'll have to go where my career takes me, ya know? If I want to provide for a family, I've got to make sure I can earn enough to make it happen. California is nice...."

He left the sentence hanging, like he wanted me to consider moving thousands of miles from home?

"California is also very expensive," I noted.

"But we can afford it when I get my degree, especially if I go straight for my Masters."

"If you get your Master's Degree, we'll be apart for two more years," I said.

"Not if you come with me," he answered just as quickly.

I flopped back on the bed. Why had I never considered that being with Niall might mean that I'd have to move away from my family and friends? I had always thought he would come back to our little town and we'd get married and raise a family there. Why had we never talked about this in so much detail before?

"Are ya okay, Meg?" He asked softly.

"Yeah," I said, sitting up again and downing my glass of wine. "I'm just...I guess we've never talked about moving, so it's kind of a surprise." Niall looked slightly dismayed but I said, "Let's not talk about it anymore right now. We're celebrating. We have a few years to figure out what to do before anything becomes a reality, right?"

"Exactly," he said, throwing back the rest of his wine, too. After that, he kissed me and held me and made love to me, convincing me that nothing could or would ever change between us.

* * * * *

My oldest daughter left today to spend a year in Ireland. A YEAR! It's been hitting me harder as the day goes on, so I present to you her picture with the 2 guys she's traveling with, as they were about to leave from Pittsburgh earlier today. I read earlier today that Niall bought a mansion in Mullingar, so I told her if she ever has a chance to go to see it, she absolutely has to. Or if she gets a chance to meet him, she'd darn well better take a lot of pictures! I also told her I want her to go and see Giant's Causeway for me, lol :D