Even happier now...nine years later

Nine years ago today a starry-eyed couple, passionately possessing that wonderful feeling of love, said "I do".  We had no idea just how many times we'd have to fall back on something other than the feeling of love, but on love in action - sacrifice, cooperation, commitment, loyalty, team work, vulnerability, honesty, and ... dare I say ... communication.

We were ill-equipped for marriage on our own.  It is only through the grace of God that I am still married to this incredible man.  I love you, B.

 

 

My sweet friend Jennifer asked me to share the story of how we met.  So, here goes.  Just the highlights though, carpooling awaits.

• We met in the commons area of our high school during lunch.  I was 13 1/2, he was 14 1/2.
• Throughout high school, we did not date.  I had no idea he was even interested in me.  He says we talked on the phone often, but I have no memory of that.  Paralyzed and half feeling like I deserved it, I watched someone steal my wallet out of my purse when I was in 8th grade.  Bryan was the one who encouraged me to tell the Vice Principal right away.  The thief dropped it in the hall; so, thanks to Bryan, I found my voice (albeit temporarily) and retrieved my stolen property.
• He graduated 3 1/2 years later.  In my yearbook, he proposed we elope.  In his yearbook, I proposed we hang out "as friends".  I used those two blessed words five times!
• He went off to college.  I had one year of high school left.  We never did hang out as friends.
• Three years later, he saw "the most beautiful woman he'd ever laid eyes on" through a store window.  It was me.  His buddy was rushing him off though, so he didn't get to come in to say hello.
• Seven years after the store window, he messaged me through classmates.com.  The stars had aligned.  I was going through a divorce and moving back home from Florida.  He lived in my mom's apartment complex.  He was single.  
• We started dating as soon as I moved home and married six months after my divorce was final.  Some thought it was so fast that my sweet aunt frantically blurted, "Is it even legal?"
• Her point was taken...  We were marrying against the odds.  It was rushed.  I was broken.  
• But God is good.  He used Bryan's stubbornness and exceedingly loyal nature to hold us together when I wanted to run...  And He ultimately (and rather quickly, I might add) did a mighty work in healing me into the kind of wife Bryan deserves.

Hope the story is as good as you'd remembered, Jen.  It's one I cherish.