The Secret Code Jimmy And Rosalynn Carter Have Been Using For Decades

If you think long-married high school sweethearts first met when they were young, then be prepared for Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. Their families were friends when they were growing up, and Jimmy Carter's mom Lillian was a nurse. Lillian helped deliver a baby in the Smith family one day in 1927, when the Carters' hometown of Plains, Georgia, held only 600 people. Lillian Carter brought her son to the hospital to meet the newborn, Eleanor Rosalynn Smith. Jimmy was 3 years old, and Rosalynn was a newborn. 

Rosalynn and the future president didn't instantly get along together as kids just because their parents knew each other. But by the time Jimmy headed off to the Navy — and Rosalynn saw him in his uniform — she was at least growing curious. Jimmy was as well, and by the time he asked Rosalynn out and they went to a movie together, Jimmy felt for sure that he'd just left the company of his wife-to-be. In an interview with The Washington Post, President Carter says that he told his mother about his feelings right away. Rosalynn, however, would only find out some years later. 

Jimmy and Rosalynn maintained a long-distance relationship while Jimmy was in the U.S. Navy. This is when they began a tradition that would last their entire life: finishing their correspondences with ILYTG — "I love you the goodest." As soon as Jimmy got back from the Navy, he and Rosalynn got married.

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