Where has the time gone???

Tonight as Nick & I were eating dinner, it occurred to me what day it was: October 11. When Nick & I were dating, we actually semi-celebrated 2 anniversaries. The day we were set up by our friends, and the day we officially became a couple. ;o) Well, October 11 was the day that we were set up by our friends and so it has been exactly 5 years since we have been together. So, I thought this might be a good time to explain how we met. However, our story actually starts long before October 11. Bear with me, this could get a little long and keep in mind this is how Nick says things happened (I swear I do not remember this early event).

One of my favorite engagement pictures

It all started in the fall of 2001...my freshman year in college. One of my roommates went to high school with Nick and was dating one of his good friends. Nick went to school in Bolivar, MO (to play golf)...about 30 minutes away from where I was in Springfield. However, his parents had just moved to Michigan and he didn't really know too many people at all in Bolivar. So, several weeknights and weekends he would drive down to Springfield to spend time with people he knew. I knew almost no one at college either so we all ended up hanging out in the same dorm room. Well, I have a very sarcastic personality and after seeing Nick in Spfd several times I supposedly said "Why are you always down here? Don't you have any friends?" This was taken as being very rude and Nick went back to Bolivar that night and told his roommate "You know that cute girl I told you about, well she's very rude." We saw each other, but didn't ever really talk again.

In Destin, FL with my family

Fast forward about 2 years to our junior year of college--I'm still very good friends with that same group of people, but I was out of town at Fall Getaway for Campus Crusade for Christ--the organization I had become very involved in. We had no cell phone reception at all. When I get back into town I have a message from one of my good friends (he was very intoxicated as it was his 21st birthday party) that had something to do with the fact that they had figured out who the perfect guy would be for me. After several phone calls and explanations, they set up dinner and a night of bowling just so Nick & I can spend some time getting to know one another. However, one small problem...the same night I find out I have to be at this ceremony for a Christian group I am joining. So...I head to dinner and eat with all my friends (I'm seated directly across from Nick), I head out for about 2 hours to this ceremony and I promise I'll meet them later at the bowling alley. By the time I get to the bowling alley, the game is almost over and I spend the rest of the time just mingling with Nick and the rest of my friends. Afterwards, we are about to go home when I ask Nick if he wants to come back to my apartment to talk. Looking back, this was incredibly irresponsible since I didn't know Nick at all--however, God must have had his hand in it because we ended up talking until 4 a.m. when he finally left to go back to Bolivar. I think he only left because he had to catch a bus at 6 a.m. to play in a golf practice round. Have I mentioned Nick is a golf fanatic and played in college? Anyways, we hit it off incredibly well and have been inseparable ever since. We have certainly had our ups and downs, but there was never a doubt in my mind that this was the man I was to be with forever. The thoughts of being without him weren't scary because they weren't an option to me. He was mine and I was his and that was all there was to it.

In St. Louis at a Cardinals game

We have both changed so much from the people we were 5 years ago--definitely for the better & I know I fall more in love with him each and every day. I had prayed for a sky-dropper (a wonderful man who practically fell out of the sky) and God certainly answered my prayer. In ways that I could never have imagined, God made all of my wildest dreams come true.