admin — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 16:53:38 +0000

I wasn’t sure how to end the year. I couldn’t go through all the pictures Karey and I took and pick just one from each bride and groom to show. There are so many pictures that I just love, that would be too hard. I decided instead to focus more on my couple’s story. What moment, decision, day changed their lives forever. How did the meet this person they are going to spend the rest of their lives together. What happened that made them realize this person was “the one”. Or how did he propose? I’m a sucker for those “moments”. It is something you can look back at fondly and remember that day, moment, and/or decision and think I’m so glad that it happened.

I’m not going to lie, I cried reading a lot of these. Now it is up to you (readers), you get to vote for your favorite story. Just leave a comment letting me know which couple is your favorite. They are in order of how I received them, so there is no biases here. This will be a long blog post, but totally worth it, I promise J So before you vote, please make sure to read all the stories. Voting ends on January 20th.

Couple #1

Since we practically grew up together, our “story” is more like a novel. We met and started dating at 16, went to the same high school, he followed me to college in Arkansas, I followed him on a semester in Holland, graduated, moved back to Texas, got jobs, adopted our puppy, cried happily during a snowy Christmas morning proposal, and began planning our wedding. And now you’re caught up! So maybe it’s not quite a novel, after all.

With that out of the way, I’ll tell you about the day I realized I was definitely, for sure, no question going to marry him.

(Side note – I asked him when he “knew,” and his typical guy answer was, “I dunno.” I like to translate that as, “Always, honey. I just always knew you were the one!” Hehehehe!)

Back to my story. During our semester in the Netherlands, we were lucky enough to visit several amazing cities. We have incredible memories from our trips to Amsterdam, Paris, Rome and Barcelona. I’m a compulsive planner, so I always made multiple copies of all our travel arrangements to prevent any issues. We had never really travelled alone before, and I was relieved when our trips were fun and relatively problem-free. Our last big excursion was to London where we met with two of our other classmates, who were also in Europe for the semester. It was one of the best weekends I’ve ever had. We rode the double-decker buses around town, cruised the River Thames, made a hilarious video in Trafalgar Square, saw Buckingham Palace, shopped at Harrod’s, hit the museums and even went on a ghost tour/pub crawl! This trip was made even better because we were much more confident (too confident) in our newly-acquired travel skills. Heck, I had even forgotten to make copies of our travel arrangements and everything was going just fine!

On the morning of our flight back to Amsterdam, he asked me, “we’re leaving from Gatwick Airport, right?” I told him that no, it was Stansted. I suggested that we use the hostel’s internet cafe to confirm before we left, but he agreed that it was Stansted. When we arrived, we searched the departures board to see if there were any delays, we couldn’t find our 9:30AM flight to Amsterdam. For those who travel often, this situation was more of a frustrating annoyance than anything world-ending. But we were barely 20 years old, and on another continent, *GASP* – we might be late for class! I immediately started to get very nervous. Not just nervous – frozen. I couldn’t think of anything except, “why didn’t I print out the flight info?” But with multiple curse words added in. However, my wonderful boyfriend stayed calm as he used a pay-per-minute airport computer to confirm that we were at the wrong airport.

Now he will admit that, usually, I’m the logical, let’s-think-this-through half of the couple. Not this day. My suddenly irrational mind decided that we should take a shuttle to Gatwick, which was clear on the other side of the city, during rush hour on a Monday morning. I was trying to convince him of my pathetically hopeless plan when he decided to walk up to the ticket counter of the airline on which we were supposed to fly. He came back, smiled and told me that we could change our flight to one from Stansted for a fee only slightly more than the shuttle would cost!

He was my hero. I finally started to relax, and my heart wasn’t trying to beat out of my chest anymore. And as he went back to the ticket counter to change our flights, I suddenly realized what should have been obvious for years. It’s OK if things go wrong because I’ll have him there to help me fix them. When I’m down, he can pick me up. And I can do that for him, too. I was smiling when he walked back with our new tickets, but not just because we were still going to make it to campus in time for afternoon classes. I was beaming because I knew that one day, years away, when we were ready, we’d get married and share a lifetime fixing our screw-ups. Together.

Couple #2

“Meant for each other”

Can true love really be found on MySpace? Well we’re here to tell you it can! We weren’t looking, but it all began with a mutual “friend” and resulted in two hearts united in marriage. It was his birthday, so I sent him good wishes. We chatted back and forth online, then exchanged phone numbers. He made me laugh, he made me smile, he made me sigh. So naturally when he asked me to meet him for lunch 6 weeks after that birthday greeting, I said “Yes”. He took me on our first date for the most incredible sushi ever! What he didn’t know was that I gave my grown sons his information “Just in case” and told them that if they didn’t hear from me in two hours to call for back up! ;p

There was chemistry that first meeting, because we overcame the odds of working opposite shifts and living an hour apart with gasoline costs at $4.50/gallon so that we could be together. Sometimes he would drive out to the country to see me, and other times I would drive into the city to see him. And sometimes we would have to settle for talking on the phone. It wasn’t until I was out of town on the 4th of July when I realized he wasn’t just another date. I really missed him and wanted to spend as much time with him as I could. (Yea, I still feel that way!) Oh, but there’s a twist….I had just been offered a job back home. An opportunity to be reunited with my family in Chicago. What a dilemma! Do I stay in Texas and give this love time to blossom? Or do I take advantage of the opportunity I’ve been longing for? It really was a no brainer, The man of my dreams says he loves me and wants me to stay. So I decided to stay in Texas. Next step, introduce the furbabies! My big bad Bichons and his loveable American Bulldog finally come together! My pups and I came to “spend the night” because I was working in town that weekend….and we never left!!

Once we realized we were truly meant to be together, we started meeting each other’s family and talking about becoming one in marriage. First he met the boys, who thought he was the coolest ever! That winter his grandma passed away and we went to Ohio to see Grandpa, offering our support during this difficult time. That’s how I first met his family. Such a rough time for them and yet they all welcomed me with open arms. Meeting the family in Chicago wasn’t quite so warm and fuzzy. Some of my family were glad to meet the man that made me smile again. Others were still upset that I chose to stay in Texas. It wasn’t always easy. And I’m sorry I made them sad.

Several months had passed as he built up courage to present me with his Grandma’s engagement ring, the one she had worn for 60 years! OMG, what an honor! Of course I said yes! And together we began planning our intimate, elegant, wedding. Meetings, shopping, late night discussions, dance lessons, and a lot of overtime! He did all of this with me so that we could have the perfect wedding day! And as I walked down the aisle that beautiful day in October, I was totally unaware of the chaos that took place as he pulled everything together just minutes before! This man is amazing and I am the luckiest woman ever! He made sure our day was just as we had dreamed!

So now as we settle into our new life together, we finally work the same shift, we take our pups on long walks/talks through the neighborhood, we take turns cooking for each other, he leaves the seat up, I leave the seat down, and we both squeeze the toothpaste tube in the middle. Best of all, at the end of a long hard day he holds me in his arms as I driift into a peaceful sleep.

I love looking through our wedding pictures and remembering that perfect day that the perfect couple was brought together in marriage. Whether it was MySpace, my “Friend” or the work of our Lord, we were meant to be together, and for this I am thankful.

Couple #3

I looked back in my class of 50 people… someone was late. He walks in the room wearing a baseball cap, flip flops, shorts, and t-shirt. I thought to myself…”Oh, he must be around my age.” The instructor lets us go out into the lobby where we can get coffee, get a breath of fresh air, and take a break from hearing about real estate. It’s a hot summer day in June but it’s always a good time for coffee. I’m waiting in line and I notice the young late lad waiting behind me… behind the other guys that’s behind me. So, I pour my coffee, select my sugar, creamer, and just stir. I’m just taking my time… and then he says “are you awake?” and I reply “no”. We start talking about the class and we know that lunch is coming up. He tells me that he’s from California and we decided on Mcalisters. We get to Mcalisters not even knowing each other’s name!! Finally, we exchange names…. His is Chris and mine is Chrystal. We chuckle a little and don’t really think much about it until later. So, I come to find out through conversation that Chris had just moved to Texas four months prior. In line, in Mcalisters, I exclaimed “I’ll be your friend!!” and we were friends ever since! We went out the next week and had drinks with some of my friends and I introduced him to different people. He started getting fresh with me over text message and I was sure to call him out on his flirtatious nature. He just has a baby face and was really 5 years older than me. At the time, it was a big deal. After three months of being friends and finding out that his ex girl friend’s name was Krystal and my ex boyfriend’s name was Chris we were ready to be “exclusive”. One night after Pete’s Piano Bar in Addison we went back to his place so I could get my car. As we arrive I decide to jump out of the car and run barefoot to the sand volleyball court and kick sand in the air. The air is warm, the sky is clear, the moon is full, and it couldn’t be a more beautiful Texas night. I decide to try this kick move where I kick him on the side of his shin and take him down to the ground. I was successful and we started laughing and rolling in the sand… he’s on top of me. The stars are behind him twinkling in the hot night sky brightly. I felt as if I could see every star just past his head as he was starring into my eyes and asked “will you give me the honor of being my girlfriend?” and I said yes.

Two years and six months later he wants to take me to dinner at Parigi’s and we decide to walk there and along the way walk through Arlington Hall at Lee Park. At this time of the month I am not as willing to do things as others. I say okay after complaining that I don’t look as good as he does because I was only in work slacks and he was in a suit! Why is he all dressed up? I get a little frustrated and we start to leave. As we are waiting for the elevator and listing to the music outside the elevator I go to give him a hug. He grabs my hands are starts dancing with me to the elevator music. Now, I was very surprised because he DOES NOT DANCE. I thought we were coming to some turning point in our relationship where he wanted to spice it up and I was going to take whatever dance move I could get out of him (besides his usual finger dance). I went with it and we danced in front of the elevator until we heard the ding. We walk through Lee Park… and we get to this bridge where he stops me, gets down on one knee, sticks his hand in his jacket pocket (where I was trying to hug him. It turns out we were not really turning a corner and he no longer dances with me in front of the elevator) and asks me if I will give him the honor of being his wife. I say “what are you doing?” followed by tears and then “YES!” We hurry and put the ring on hug, cry, laugh and hug. We were then really hurried to get going because there was a homeless man starring at is about 20 yards away. He was going to ask me on our anniversary but he had gotten the ring that afternoon and asked me to dinner right after. He said he couldn’t hold on to it… and he just had to give it to me. It’s beautiful and I couldn’t ask for a better soul mate.

Couple #4

Our Story

FH and I met in Graduate School.

In graduate school I worked for a financial counseling program. It was a student group,

but was advised by a member of the faculty. I was very close to the professor who

advised the program. She knew the details of the very non-healthy on/off relationship

I had with my boyfriend at the time. We were currently “off” when I went to her for

advice. She mentioned how she thought I should call the last break up a blessing

and move on. She also mentioned a boy that volunteered for the financial counseling

program. FH? Oh, yes, I remember FH. He presented to our group a couple of times

during continuing education meetings. He is pretty cute. She also added that he is a

really great person. Hmm. A thought process had been started.

I first got the chance to have an in-depth conversation with FH when we were grouped

together to interview potential students for the financial counseling program. Hi, I’m

FW. Yes, I know who you are. I’m FH. Yes, I know. We chatted about school, our

class load, our future goals, etc. The conversation finally came around to relationship

status. Do you have a boyfriend? No. Do you have a girlfriend? No. We talked a bit

about the boyfriend and girlfriend of the past. I could see the raw emotion in his eyes for

just a moment as he spoke. The hurt so deep, the heart clearly on the mend. Then, the

wall popped back up within minutes. He guarded his heart quickly. If I close my eyes

today I can still see that emotion in his eyes. We talked a bit more and then continued

interviewing. I thought he was such a nice guy. I knew, however, that now was not the

time to have anything other than a friendship with FH. He needed time. Time would

heal all pain. We did, however, become facebook friends.

Fast forward a couple of years. I had moved to Dallas to begin my career. My on/off

boyfriend was off, again – and this time for good. I spent several months just being me –

and being okay with me. One day I was perusing facebook to see what my friends were

up to and I came across FH’s profile. Hmm. FH. What a nice guy. I posted an innocent

hello and went on about my day. Hello back. Ah – he responded. For the next few

weeks we posted frequently on each other’s profile. The holidays quickly approached.

It was a few days before Christmas and I had plans to go back home for Christmas. My

grandma had not yet caught up with the times and did not have internet. These were also

the days before I had a smart phone. I sent FH a message telling him I would be offline

for a few days, but gave him my number. The texting began. Then phone calls. Then I

went back to our college town to visit. FH was still in graduate school.

I remember this visit very well. We went on our first “date”. I paid, because , well– I

had a career going and he was still in college – living like a college student. He met a

few of my friends that still lived in our college town. I met a few of his. The day I was

supposed to leave to go back to Dallas we had lunch together. We sat in my car to say

good bye. I asked him if he wanted to start seriously dating – boyfriend/girlfriend level.

Immediately I saw the wall and guard that I had seen once before. Hmm. He didn’t

really want a long distance relationship. In his experience they didn’t really work out.

He didn’t think he could do it. It would be too hard. Clearly stung, I said ok. I had to get on the road. Thank you for such a fun weekend. Maybe we can still chat on the phone every once in a while. Okay.

I was about an hour outside of our college town when my cell phone rang. Maybe, just maybe we can try it out. See if it would work. See if it would be that hard. He had changed his mind.

We dated long distance for about six months. FH graduated from graduate school and moved to Dallas to start his career. We got engaged a year later on a trip to Boston. We became husband and wife a year and a half after our Boston trip. Taking that chance was a huge risk – for both of us. It’s been the most rewarding risk we have ever taken.

Couple #5

In our case, our “how we met” story is not nearly as interesting as how if God has love in mind, nothing can stop it from growing. We didn’t fall in love, we rose in love.

I wrote a poem to express that concept.

It’s so Easy Loving You (an infinite rising)

It’s so easy loving you.

An infinite rising, a place with a view.

It’s so easy loving you.

An infinite rising, not a falling into.

Your love whispered like a tiny gift from the sea.

When I was ready, you appeared there for me.

No need for honeymoons followed by thunder and rain.

No pushing a rock up a mountain and tumbling down again.

It’s so easy loving you.

An infinite rising, a place with a view.

It’s so easy loving you.

An infinite rising, not a falling into.

Teach me teach me about this kind of love.

The one 1st Corinthians tells us of.

Humbles my soul to the dust.

I’m letting go, learning to trust.

It’s so easy loving you.

An infinite rising, a place with a view.

It’s so easy loving you.

An infinite rising, not a falling into.

Couple #6

My story begins with me growing up in a small Tx town where everyone knew

everyone. In fact my family still lives there. I grew up active in

school, clubs, and had plenty of friends. I was always nice to everyone

and wanted nothing more than to blend into the crowd. A lot of this was

due to being overweight for the majority of my childhood. Even though I

had friends, in many ways I was a loner. I don’t mean that to sound sad,

but I was very independent as a child. I didn’t want to ask for help or

have to rely on someone for fear of disappointment. This was also true as

far as boys and dating. I was never that girl being checked out by they

guys. I never dared let a boy know I liked him for fear of rejection or

worse.

After high-school, I moved to Lubbock and attended Texas Tech. The first

year I lived smack dab on the sorority floor of my dorm even though I was

not in one. This was a different world for the small town chubby girl. I

was amazed at how much more mature these girls seemed than me. They were

pretty, confident, wore all the right designers, and knew how to flirt with

they guys. They all dated, went to parties, and belonged to sororities.

As for me, I still felt like the chubby friend in school. I think this all

pushed me to start looking at my life and what I wanted for myself. I

needed to start taking control of my life and body. I started working out

and eating better. The weight was slowly coming off and I started feeling

stronger and more confident. I started being more comfortable with myself,

started going to parties and even had my first boyfriend!

After college, I moved to Dallas. Growing up I had always wanted to live

in a big city and I was finally here. I also continued on my path of

losing weight and being healthier. Never being an athlete, I was finally

running miles on the treadmill and loving it. I ended up losing ~60 lbs,

but of course my inside hadn’t caught up with my outside. I still saw

myself as the chubby girl in highschool even though I wasn’t. Dating

definitely picked up as the weight came off…go figure. With only one

long term relationship, my dating shelf life usually ran 2-3 weeks. I knew

my lack of commitment was still due to my past. I think the fear of

rejection was still in the back of my mind so I would usually end things

before the guy had a chance.

Professionally, I had a good career being the youngest manager at my

company. I had worked hard to get where I was. At work I was confident,

outgoing and sure of myself. Why worry about all this relationship stuff

especially when all of my girlfriends that were married or had a boyfriend

did nothing but gripe about men? Seriously I don’t know how many times

they commented on how lucky I was to be single and that they envied my

life.

I gave all that background so that it would make sense talking about my

life now. Fast forward a few years, and now I’m 32 getting married! I met

my fiance on Match.com in July of 2009 2 days before my birthday. At that

time, I was kind of on a dating streak and just having fun so I figured

there probably wasn’t anything different about this guy. We would meet

once or twice, have some laughs, and I would move on to the next guy. In

fact since we had both had a long July 4th weekend we both almost cancelled

our first meeting.

Geoff and I met at Snookys for $1 drinks in Addison on a Sunday afternoon.

I purposely would pick this place in case the meeting was a dud. It was

cheap and an easy out close to home. Needless to say we had a few $1

drinks and ended up going to Maguires for dinner down the street. Our

first “meeting” lasted 6 hours. After that night we started dating and

never stopped. Geoff was sweet, affectionate, funny, and wanted to make me

a priority in his life. We were jokingly renamed “John and Kate” which you

would understand if you saw us. We were different in a lot of ways, but

the differences seemed to compliment our relationship. When I tried to

push him away like I had all the other guys, he saw right thru my

insecurities. He grounded me in many ways, but still let me be goofy and

eccentric when I wanted to be.

Geoff proposed during Memorial Day weekend. Without me knowing, he had

secretly flown from Dallas to Amarillo on the Thursday before Memorial Day

weekend to meet up with my parents. They had driven to Amarillo to meet

Geoff at a lunch he had arranged. After nervously asking for my hand in

marriage, he received a blessing from both parents. He then hopped a plane

back to Dallas that afternoon and made it home in time to go to dinner with

me that night. I had no clue!

After almost blowing his secret a couple times, Geoff said he could hardly

contain himself. He arranged for his friend Tim and his wife Gin to meet

up with us that Saturday night. Geoff and I had decided to go to Houston’s

that night since it’s one of our favorite places to eat. We had a great

time as usual and after dinner he told me we were heading to West Village

to meet up Tim and Gin for a drink. We ended up at Cru Wine bar. Geoff

had called Cru earlier to advise them of his plan.

It was a beautiful night and everyone was outside. Tim and Gin had secured

a table on the patio, and had told everyone else sitting out there Geoff’s

plan to propose. We sat down and began enjoying a glass of wine. After

awhile, Geoff got up to go to the bathroom and I continued my conversation

with Gin. He was actually going to get the ring from inside. I then

noticed a group of girls watching us and remember actually saying something

to Gin about it. She made up some story about knowing them from a work

function. Little did I know all the people on the patio were watching and

waiting for the big moment.

Geoff returned and Gin began talking about their own wedding and then began

talking about the first time they met me. Gin then asked how long Geoff

and I had been dating. As I started to reminisce about it almost being a

year, Geoff dropped to his knee and proposed. Honestly the whole thing was

a blur. In my head I was thinking “OMG is this seriously happening in

front of everyone…say YES”! I did say yes and everyone on the patio

began clapping and coming over to congratulate us. Our waitress then came

out with glasses of champagne and desserts. I then called my mom even

though it was after midnight. She started laughing, finally able to spill

the beans about Geoff’s secret trip to Amarillo. She had known and was

waiting for my call. It was a great night. I also found out after our

very first date Geoff had told his friends he was going to marry me. A

funny addendum to the night was that I had posted to my Facebook when we

were leaving Houston’s: ”Filet and Prisoner wine from Houston’s”…doesn’t

get much better….guess he showed me!

We have now been engaged for 8 months and the wedding is this May. I can’t

wait to have this special day with all our family and friends. While the

wedding is exciting, I’m more excited about being Geoff’s wife than the

actual wedding. Geoff makes me want to be a better a person and I’ve

realized that’s what it’s all about. He’s my best friend and the love of

my life. No longer do I hold back my feelings fearing rejection or try to

blend into a crowd. Our relationship has given me new confidence and I

love the fact that we have years of new adventures in front of us. I’ve

found the right person and can’t wait to see what will happen next!

Couple #7

Our Story

Alex and I met four years ago in February 2007 on “Match.com”. Although the first date we went on started out as only a lunch date it turned into a twelve hour date. We just instantly connected and had so much fun together! It wasn’t too long into our relationship that we realized we loved each other and wanted to spend the rest of our lives together! But we really didn’t want to rush into anything so we have been trying to take it slow, and just enjoy each other’s company.

We officially got engaged May of 2010! Alex had previously told me that we would probably get engaged sometime in 2010, but gave no other clues besides the year. Alex did an awesome job of keeping it a secret!! By the time it actually happened I was getting very anxious thinking it might happen with every special occasion that came my way. Alex knew this and was trying to think of something that would surprise me! He is so sweet and romantic! I had planned a small getaway for his birthday which consisted of us to going to Rockwall, staying at the Harbor, and taking a cruise around the lake. Well without me knowing he contacted the Captain of the sail boat, and they conspired together to set up the perfect proposal. So we get on the sail boat for our sunset cruise and the whole time I’m thinking this is my gift to him for his birthday! We had packed a picnic basket with wine and cheese for our ride! The view from the boat was gorgeous! The sun had just starting to set when we had decided we would go up to the front of the boat and take some pictures. The Captain comes up to us and says I will take your picture for you! The next thing I know Alex is down on one knee pulling a ring box out of his sock band and is asking me to marry him!! I was so excited and a little in shock!! Of course I said yes!! Everyone on the boat started clapping and cheering! The captain even had a banner made for us that said”Will you Marry Me?”! Not every girl gets proposed to just as the sun is setting over the water! I never imagined being proposed to that way! What made it even more memorable for us is that the Captain photographed the whole event! So few of my friends have pictures of their actual proposal and I feel so fortunate to have this very special memory captured in photos. All in all I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect surprise and romantic proposal!!

Couple #8

“How I knew he was the one”

My hubby and I had just started dating for about three months, when I was about to move to California with a girl friend. This was a scheduled move that was planned for the previous 8 months. We had an apartment already rented and everything already planned for the actual move. I was really falling for Adam and I had a strong feeling that this would go somewhere but I was scared with everything going on. About two weeks before I was to leave, I sat down with Adam and asked him point blank “Do you want me to move?” He, being the nice and not wanting to stand in the way person he is, said he thought I should go and he didn’t want to be the reason I did not do something I had set my mind to doing. Of course, I was upset because that was not the answer that I wanted, but I understood. The next day, he brought over a long letter and a CD. The letter was so heart felt and described how he had falling for me so hard. He said he would be very upset if I left and that his real answer was NO he did not want me to move, he wanted me to stay here with him in Texas. On the CD was one song, “Sweet Thing” by Mary J Blige. I listened to it and cried. I was so happy to hear that what I was feeling, Adam was too. I knew if I stayed, our relationship would grow and we would be together. I knew from that point that he was the one for me.

Of course I had to tell my girlfriend that I would not be moving to California and it because of a guy. She was very upset with me and eventually she understood and we are still really good friends. At our wedding in the toast she said, “When you told me that you were not moving to Cali, all I was thinking was you better marry this guy. Here we are 5 years later…”

Couple #9

Our story started about five years ago, in 2005. My best friend, (one of eight bridesmaids.) encouraged me to try an on-line dating website. She tried to persuade me, but all I did was resist. However, I eventually gave in. I was still very hesitant about the whole idea, but I tried it out for a few months. I met a few men from the site, but none worth a second date. Until, I met Ryan, AKA RJ5897. (Now known as my Husband.)

I remember Ryan and my first phone conversation, and how excited I was talking to him. (I also, remember hearing Ryan’s voice and how sexy and deep it sounded. J). About fifteen minutes into the conversation, I found out that Ryan lived in Mansfield. Unfortunately, I just didn’t ever see us taking this any further with me living in Mesquite. (I like to avoid driving DFW, Metroplex areas if all possible.) . Even though there were no intentions of us meeting up, (and we were both dating other people at the time.) Ryan and I would comment on each other’s my space page, text, and we would even talk on the phone often. Ryan and I continued this for about a year until he called me one day. He told me his job is moving him to Dallas. I was joking around and said, we should meet up, and of course he said yes. I was a little shocked, but very excited at the same time.

We met for the first time at Bennigans in Mesquite. (Dec.13, 2006)

I remember walking into the bar area and Ryan was sitting down at a booth. I was very nervous when I first saw him; he looked way better in person and a lot taller than I realized! (I wasn’t really expecting him to look so good; I wouldn’t have worn a sweatshirt and jeans!) We hit it off from the start. A month later Ryan asked me when he could change his status to “In a relationship.”

In the first six months of us dating it was quite a challenge for us to make time for one another. I was going to school for my Art teaching degree and he worked nights. We were so busy with school and work we only got to see each other once on the weekends. One time Ryan called me late at night, (while I was working on a painting project, and this would be the first time for me to talk to him that day.) and I ended the phone conversation early, because he was running up my cell phone minutes. (I can’t remember his response, but he still teases me about it today.) Another six months went by and we started seeing each other twice a week. Ryan also moved to Mesquite. (I never drove out to see him in his apartment when he lived in Dallas.) Once he moved to Mesquite we got to see each other more frequently.

Three months later, Ryan and I took a trip to Paris, France. We went to visit the Eiffel Tower and that is where Ryan got down on one knee and popped the question .I said, Yes!

Couple #10

Uju caught my eye in our Junior year in High School. She was almost as pretty as she is now, pretty, with big brown enchanting eyes, irresistible pair of legs and yet very studious. I was part of the rather active crowd and though I evinced some flair for school work, I didn’t devote the kind of energy or time she did. With time, we became good friends but although I harboured fonder sentiments I was rather shy, which is unusual for an out-going guy like me. I was also afraid that disclosing how deep I felt for her will torpedo the rather semi-friendship we shared at the time. Although there were a number of opportunities to open my heart to her, I preferred in my puerile mind to savour the friendship we had instead of losing her completely. In fact, I remember vividly a particular occasion in we were in opposing sides to choose the topic for an argumentative essay; I articulated points for and against a particular topic. I intended less to convince of the merits of choosing that topic but more as a rare chance to show-off and attract her attention to myself.

By our final year, although we weren’t exclusive friends, our friendship was such that we could discuss intimate school gossip. But it was one chance meeting which gave us an opportunity to search our souls and reach into each other. It was more than 3 hours of fun and general conversation. We connected instinctively far better than how we did in school; we let each other into confidences which with benefit of retrospect, proved a point of departure for our decision to spend the rest of our natural lives together as husband and wife. It was then with great shock that I received the news that she was re-locating out of the country. I was stunned and was unable to function fully for days. I was hardly consoled by her promise to always write. With time, I looked forward to her ‘rather roundish’ and clear fine hand-writing. She was very dutiful in writing, never spared details in sharing her initial experiences and I always replied with equal gusto. Time flew by and although distance didn’t weaken the embers of my affection for her, it considerably stunted the chances of the relationship growing as fast as we would have wanted it.

It was a few years later when I put a call through to her and on the pretext of informing about her cousin’s impending wedding, launched into a rather long discussion; this opened the door a lot more, re-kindling any cooling embers and recharged me into a renewed attempt at wooing her heart. By the end of the year, we were speaking fairly frequently and this continued in the following year. Our chats became more intimate and she confirmed her plans to visit for Christmas. It was most fortuitous, the circumstances which led to our meeting during that trip. But when we did, we literally were lost in each other’s arms, an embrace that made time practically stand still, and tried to bridge the gap of her years of absence. We spoke or rather I spoke non-stop for about 2 hours just filling her in on what had happened since almost the decade we last met. Clearly, it was becoming more apparent to me the effect she was having on me. I was happy talking with her, I was fulfilled by being next to her, and I was content just because she was listening to me. It was a situation I wanted to last forever. I therefore started in that direction. The following year generally charted the course: we enjoyed each other’s company; calling each other everyday and even over the phone, the chemistry was apparent. We spent every weekend together on Skype. As our relationship grew, I knew I wanted to be with her forever. We planned and met a few times in London, and the times were purely magical.

She planned another visit home and set us on a count-down mood. From 63 days, together we counted down slowly each day to the very last day. I stood at the arrival terminal, waiting and expectant. Then, there SHE WAS! I felt weak at the knees; my heart stopped and started racing all at the same time. I am considered rather voluble but on that occasion, I was almost tongue-tied; all I could hear myself saying was ‘Are u for real? ’ Must have said it a thousand times as we drove home.

On the day I proposed, she was returning from a visit with her family. I left work early to meet her at the airport with the best ring I could find in my pocket and my heart beating faster than ever. On the last stretch leading to the airport, there was considerable vehicular traffic, and her flight had long arrived. I couldn’t wait anymore, alighted from the car and started what turned out to be a 110 metre-dash to the arrival terminal. Then I saw her pretty frame, with my heart beating treacherously, threatening to tear my chest open, I went down on one knee and asked Uju, ‘will you marry me?’ And when she was able to say ‘YES’ amidst all her shouts of excitement, I knew the magic of our union cannot be broken.